So today it took a while to get up. Sleeping in felt so good. But the day still started around 10 when the girls called and said they wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens and some of the others who hadn't seen it wanted to see the Budhist temple. So we hopped in taxis again and headed for Jungmun where this stuff was. I wanted to see a waterfall there, so I decided to go the waterfall on my own. It was a great looking waterfall and was easily accesible. The thing with Jeju is that most every tourist attraction cost a little money. So it adds up, but it's fairly cheap. It's about a $1.50 charge each time for the tourist stuff. Well worth it.
So we check all this stuff out and then head back to the apartment as the rest of the group has to leave by 12:00ish to get to the airport. They all had a 4:30 flight. I get to the apartment, not sure whether I wanted to take the ferry or the plane. I had researched some of it earlier and found that if I stayed till Sat., I still wouldn't get back to Daejeon till late at night. So I got online and found an airline leaving Jeju to Cheongju (closest airport to Daejeon) for around $54. That was about the same I would pay for ferry and KTX. And this plane ride would only be for an hour, instead of 5 hours or whatever. So I quickly called and reserved myself a ticket.
All of us then got on a bus for Jeju city to try to find an Indian restaurant Tim recommended to us called Baghdad cafe. Well, we get to near where he told us it was and we couldn't find it. So I split off and started walking around the area. So I asked this random guy if he knew where it was. I showed him on a map where it was supposed to be near and he just pointed to the city hall. I knew where the city hall was, I wanted to get to Baghdad cafe. So I said "Baghdad cafe" and he was like "where"?. Then I said it again. Then he was like "oh, Baguhdaduh" cafe. That's kind of how you say it in Korean accent. After I said, yes, he laughed and pointed two buildings down. There is was, and I felt silly. He laughed some more and I thanked him and called the rest of the group. This was God's Provision #4. The restaurant was incredible. I had some stuff called Chicken Mankhani (something like it), garlic nan bread, and a strawberry drink. Great meal before flying out. So we all go to the airport then. I was flying a different airline from everyone else as mine was a low cost airline. To board my plane, I had to go out to the tarmac, grab a little bus for the plane and then they drove us to this little twin engine propeller plane. It was a fun plane ride. The stewardess made balloon animals for the kids in the plane. Who does that? But it was cool.
So finally the trip was over....I took the bus back to daejeon and now I'm back in my apartment. I have some amazing photos of the whole experience that will help me remember and I have memories that will last a long long time. God was so good in this trip. How is it, that 14 of us managed to have such an enjoyable time and do so much and not got upset with each other? God's provision for sure.
Well, I'm beat, and hopefully I'll put some pictures up here soon of the experience.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Trip on a Whim-Day 4
This day started out early. It started at about 5:15. Why you ask? Well, we all wanted to walk over to the other side of the island to see the sunrise. So we walked over there and Tim and I found a great spot near a lighthouse to take in the sunrise. The walk over to the east side though was about a 40 minute walk, so it was a decent walk. Well, the day was perfect for a sunrise. The clouds were a little on the horizon but not covering it and the weather was beautiful. We stayed and watched the sunrise and then started walking back over to the other side of the island. Tim was on a bit of a schedule because he had to start work again this day and also had to drop Nikole off at the airport. So we were walking back at a good pace, but it just seemed like the island kept going on forever. So we were walking and then all of a sudden a car came up beside us and offered us a ride. The person didn't know us, they just wanted to help out. So this lady drove us to the other side near our pension. God's Provision #3. It never seases to amaze me how God cares so much about the little things. Like not having to walk sometimes when we are so tired. Don't get me wrong, I did a lot of walking this trip, it just seems that God provided right when we needed it.
Well, from this point, Tim and I walked up to the rental place on the island to see about renting scooters and bikes. I decided to rent a bike and bike around the island. It about 14km. I biked it and had a really enjoyable time just being in nature and seeing the beach. I got a serious sunburn though. Gets me every time.
After biking I decided to chill for a while. Then I decided to ferry back around 2 to go climb sunrise peak. It a giant rock mountain that has a crater in the middle of it. It's a huge tourist site in Jeju island, but well worth it as well. So I got there and climbed up a bunch of stairs to the top and enjoyed the crater. It's a beautiful piece of God's creation for sure. Whenever I go to things like that I am always in awe of what all he has crated. From the big to the small, to the ugly to the pretty. It's all his creation.
I met up with the rest of the crew at the ferry terminal around 5 and we all bused back to the apartment. Some of the group wanted to go to the bathhouse, but me and a guy named Johnny didn't feel up for it, so we decided to go find a place to eat at. We found a great Korean BBQ place and ate there. Well, after that, the rest of the group called and said they were going to a sweet Italian restaurant. Not the best of communication there, but we went anyway to see the place. I ended up ordering only a shake, but the restaurant had a lot of style and looked really nice. To end the night we went down to the beach near the restaurant and hung out for a bit.
Somehow Day 4 was done and only Day 5 was left.
Well, from this point, Tim and I walked up to the rental place on the island to see about renting scooters and bikes. I decided to rent a bike and bike around the island. It about 14km. I biked it and had a really enjoyable time just being in nature and seeing the beach. I got a serious sunburn though. Gets me every time.
After biking I decided to chill for a while. Then I decided to ferry back around 2 to go climb sunrise peak. It a giant rock mountain that has a crater in the middle of it. It's a huge tourist site in Jeju island, but well worth it as well. So I got there and climbed up a bunch of stairs to the top and enjoyed the crater. It's a beautiful piece of God's creation for sure. Whenever I go to things like that I am always in awe of what all he has crated. From the big to the small, to the ugly to the pretty. It's all his creation.
I met up with the rest of the crew at the ferry terminal around 5 and we all bused back to the apartment. Some of the group wanted to go to the bathhouse, but me and a guy named Johnny didn't feel up for it, so we decided to go find a place to eat at. We found a great Korean BBQ place and ate there. Well, after that, the rest of the group called and said they were going to a sweet Italian restaurant. Not the best of communication there, but we went anyway to see the place. I ended up ordering only a shake, but the restaurant had a lot of style and looked really nice. To end the night we went down to the beach near the restaurant and hung out for a bit.
Somehow Day 4 was done and only Day 5 was left.
Trip on a Whim-Day 3
So today we decided we wanted to be very ambitious. I also would like to call this the transportation nightmare day.
Basically some of us got up early to go to this hill that we wanted to climb that had a crater at the top. So we walked to the bus station and tried to get a bus right away, because our day was going to be packed. So we get there and find out we have to wait about 20 minutes. That's fine and we take the bus to the hill. Well, we get to hill and find that we don't really know where the path is to get up to the crater. So we randomly find some path that's marked well and start to go up it. Well, after a lot of stairs, we find out this is the part to a cave where they have a big Budha statue and some water that must have been holy. There were people who were drinking the water, that's what made me asume it must be holy. They were also doing it in a prayerful manner. So in two days, seeing two different Budhist things. I don't know how to take it. There's so much symbolism in Budhism and yet there is in Christianity as well. I'm just glad to worship a God who's alive! So we walk back down the stairs after spending some time up there admiring the view from where this cave was. So we get down and find out that there won't be a bus for like 20 mintues. This is fine as it's a nice day. Well, we wait 20 minutes and a bus came, but it just drove past us. Completely ignoring us. It was funny though as some of the locals there got so upset that the bus just completely ignored us. They thought we would go home and say bad things about Jeju. This was not true though, but what was true was that we had to wait another 40 minutes for the bus.
Well, we finally get back to Tim's about to pack up for a trip to Udo island. This is an island about 15 by ferry off the east coast of Jeju. It a beautiful, serene place. So we pack up and get in another bus to the ferry terminal on the east coast. This bus was slow as it stopped every 5-10 minutes to pick someone up. So eventually we get to a bus stop, but it turns out this bus doesn't go direct to the ferry terminal. So we walked about 10 minutes to get there. At the ferry terminal we purchase the tickets and again have to wait. So we waited there about 40 minutes for the ferry over. This wait again wasn't terrible though as we were at the port and got to see some neat fishing boats that had tons of flags on them. One of the flags is a flag they believe will get them a big catch. So we grab the ferry on over to Udo island. We get there and drop our stuff off at a pension. This pension was beautiful and the rooms are normally expensive, but when you share with 5 people, that price drops. The island was so quiet and so nice and beautiful.
So by this time, people are hungry and want to eat. So the group split off into two groups. One group that wanted seafood, and the other group who wanted to look for a chinese place on the island that Tim went to once. I was in the chinese group. Let's just say this is where the adventure began.
It was dark out, so we were walking on roads on this small island to get to the other side. So we walked, and walked, and walked, and it was nice out and the moon was lighting the path and we finally got over to the other side of the island but couldn't find this restaurant. In fact, we couldn't find any restaurant. So we are walking down this random road and a Bongo truck (basically a pickup truck) comes by and we decide to ask them about a restaurant. So we ask and then say "get in the back". So we all got in the back and he drove us to a restaurant he knew about. God privision #2. We get into the restaurant and look at the menu and find out that their specialty is raw fish. Well, none of us were really in the mood for raw fish, so we ask if they have any chicken. They say no, but then say they will call another restaurant on the island that serves it and get it delivered there. We tried to say it wasn't necessary, but they did it anyway. So to be nice, we also ordered some fried fish from the actual restaurant we were in. We were the only ones in this restaurant.....it's a small island. So they start out by giving us a korean pancake with oysters in it for free. It was delicious. And then they gave a plate of shrimp for free. Then the chicken came and the fish came and it was all delicious. So we were enjoying out meal and having great company, and the restaurant owners at this time were having their own meal as well. So they must have seen that we were enjoying the food because they grabbed a couple pieces of the meat they were cooking for themselves and brought them over to us. So kind of them. And the meat was delicious. Sometimes the graciousness of Koreans overwhelms me. Especially of those from the island. So we finish the meal and think were going to have to walk back to the pension, but the restaurant owner tells us he will take us back in his van. So he did. When we tried to offer him money for it, he declined. Then that night we just played games together and hung out. Good day, but it was time for a rest.
Long Day 3 was done!
Basically some of us got up early to go to this hill that we wanted to climb that had a crater at the top. So we walked to the bus station and tried to get a bus right away, because our day was going to be packed. So we get there and find out we have to wait about 20 minutes. That's fine and we take the bus to the hill. Well, we get to hill and find that we don't really know where the path is to get up to the crater. So we randomly find some path that's marked well and start to go up it. Well, after a lot of stairs, we find out this is the part to a cave where they have a big Budha statue and some water that must have been holy. There were people who were drinking the water, that's what made me asume it must be holy. They were also doing it in a prayerful manner. So in two days, seeing two different Budhist things. I don't know how to take it. There's so much symbolism in Budhism and yet there is in Christianity as well. I'm just glad to worship a God who's alive! So we walk back down the stairs after spending some time up there admiring the view from where this cave was. So we get down and find out that there won't be a bus for like 20 mintues. This is fine as it's a nice day. Well, we wait 20 minutes and a bus came, but it just drove past us. Completely ignoring us. It was funny though as some of the locals there got so upset that the bus just completely ignored us. They thought we would go home and say bad things about Jeju. This was not true though, but what was true was that we had to wait another 40 minutes for the bus.
Well, we finally get back to Tim's about to pack up for a trip to Udo island. This is an island about 15 by ferry off the east coast of Jeju. It a beautiful, serene place. So we pack up and get in another bus to the ferry terminal on the east coast. This bus was slow as it stopped every 5-10 minutes to pick someone up. So eventually we get to a bus stop, but it turns out this bus doesn't go direct to the ferry terminal. So we walked about 10 minutes to get there. At the ferry terminal we purchase the tickets and again have to wait. So we waited there about 40 minutes for the ferry over. This wait again wasn't terrible though as we were at the port and got to see some neat fishing boats that had tons of flags on them. One of the flags is a flag they believe will get them a big catch. So we grab the ferry on over to Udo island. We get there and drop our stuff off at a pension. This pension was beautiful and the rooms are normally expensive, but when you share with 5 people, that price drops. The island was so quiet and so nice and beautiful.
So by this time, people are hungry and want to eat. So the group split off into two groups. One group that wanted seafood, and the other group who wanted to look for a chinese place on the island that Tim went to once. I was in the chinese group. Let's just say this is where the adventure began.
It was dark out, so we were walking on roads on this small island to get to the other side. So we walked, and walked, and walked, and it was nice out and the moon was lighting the path and we finally got over to the other side of the island but couldn't find this restaurant. In fact, we couldn't find any restaurant. So we are walking down this random road and a Bongo truck (basically a pickup truck) comes by and we decide to ask them about a restaurant. So we ask and then say "get in the back". So we all got in the back and he drove us to a restaurant he knew about. God privision #2. We get into the restaurant and look at the menu and find out that their specialty is raw fish. Well, none of us were really in the mood for raw fish, so we ask if they have any chicken. They say no, but then say they will call another restaurant on the island that serves it and get it delivered there. We tried to say it wasn't necessary, but they did it anyway. So to be nice, we also ordered some fried fish from the actual restaurant we were in. We were the only ones in this restaurant.....it's a small island. So they start out by giving us a korean pancake with oysters in it for free. It was delicious. And then they gave a plate of shrimp for free. Then the chicken came and the fish came and it was all delicious. So we were enjoying out meal and having great company, and the restaurant owners at this time were having their own meal as well. So they must have seen that we were enjoying the food because they grabbed a couple pieces of the meat they were cooking for themselves and brought them over to us. So kind of them. And the meat was delicious. Sometimes the graciousness of Koreans overwhelms me. Especially of those from the island. So we finish the meal and think were going to have to walk back to the pension, but the restaurant owner tells us he will take us back in his van. So he did. When we tried to offer him money for it, he declined. Then that night we just played games together and hung out. Good day, but it was time for a rest.
Long Day 3 was done!
Trip on a whim. Day 2.
So day 2 would be about as adventurous as Day 1. We started our day by deciding that we all wanted to go to the beach. So Tim our adventure guy told us that Jungmun was the best place on the south of the island to go to the beach and to have other stuff to do. So we all hopped on taxis and headed to Jungmun.
Jungmun is a huge tourist area, but yet it's cool. There are really huge hotels there and lots of other touristy things to do. Normally I don't like this, but today it was alright. So we heard that the beach by the Hyatt was nice. So we went to the Hyatt, walked around their nice facilities (really nice pool) and then went down to the beach. Some wanted to go swimming, but Tim recommended that we go to see a really large Budhist Temple and then after that see some really cool cliffs that were formed my volcanic activity a long time ago. So I was down for this and went with him and a couple others.
The Budhist temple we went to was huge. Tim said it was the largest temple in the orient. Not sure what all that covers. The temple amazed me in so many ways. It was so ornate, and the grounds were beautiful. So we looked around the front for a little and then entered the temple. When we walked in we took off our shoes and started touring the main temple. In the front were three very large Budha's. Around them were ornate paintings. On the second floor was a prayer room and around it in the halls were glass shelves carrying hundreds of little budhas. Up on the third floor there were cases of even more little Budhas. Everywhere there were Budha's. It felt to me, very intense in there. This was the first time for me ever going into a Budhist temple. It was a neat experience. So after being in there for a time we went into a room in a building outside where they normally do their Temple Stays (temple stays are where people can stay at a temple and learn some of the trades). Anyway, in this room were statues of Budha and all his different emotions, feelings, etc. Basically each Budha statue had a different face or shape to him. All in all, this trip to the temple was eye-opening. It opened my mind to this culture and what they believe and how strongly they believe it.
So after that we took taxis to a sweet lookout by the ocean to see some cliffs that had been formed by volcanic activity. They were very cool and after that we just walked back to the beach. Then in the evening we decided to make dinner on the beach. This was an experience to say the least. First, we didn't bring everything we needed, it was getting dark, and the tide was rising near where we were grilling. But in the end in all worked out, had a wonderful dinner, and finished the day by going to the apartment.
Day 2 was complete.
Jungmun is a huge tourist area, but yet it's cool. There are really huge hotels there and lots of other touristy things to do. Normally I don't like this, but today it was alright. So we heard that the beach by the Hyatt was nice. So we went to the Hyatt, walked around their nice facilities (really nice pool) and then went down to the beach. Some wanted to go swimming, but Tim recommended that we go to see a really large Budhist Temple and then after that see some really cool cliffs that were formed my volcanic activity a long time ago. So I was down for this and went with him and a couple others.
The Budhist temple we went to was huge. Tim said it was the largest temple in the orient. Not sure what all that covers. The temple amazed me in so many ways. It was so ornate, and the grounds were beautiful. So we looked around the front for a little and then entered the temple. When we walked in we took off our shoes and started touring the main temple. In the front were three very large Budha's. Around them were ornate paintings. On the second floor was a prayer room and around it in the halls were glass shelves carrying hundreds of little budhas. Up on the third floor there were cases of even more little Budhas. Everywhere there were Budha's. It felt to me, very intense in there. This was the first time for me ever going into a Budhist temple. It was a neat experience. So after being in there for a time we went into a room in a building outside where they normally do their Temple Stays (temple stays are where people can stay at a temple and learn some of the trades). Anyway, in this room were statues of Budha and all his different emotions, feelings, etc. Basically each Budha statue had a different face or shape to him. All in all, this trip to the temple was eye-opening. It opened my mind to this culture and what they believe and how strongly they believe it.
So after that we took taxis to a sweet lookout by the ocean to see some cliffs that had been formed by volcanic activity. They were very cool and after that we just walked back to the beach. Then in the evening we decided to make dinner on the beach. This was an experience to say the least. First, we didn't bring everything we needed, it was getting dark, and the tide was rising near where we were grilling. But in the end in all worked out, had a wonderful dinner, and finished the day by going to the apartment.
Day 2 was complete.
Trip on a Whim! Going to Jeju
So, it ended up that it was Chuseok break this week. Basically from last friday to sunday. So that means that us as RA's get time off. A whole week of it in fact. So I wasn't going to do anything and I was just going to rest and stay in my apartment. Well, as we all know....with me and my love for travel, that probably doesn't stick. And it didn't. It basically all started Sunday when I got the invite to go to Jeju with a group of new teachers and some teachers who have been here for a bit. All in all, a group of 14 total. Normally I would be turned off by a group that size, but this time around I wasn't and sadly by Sunday I was already itching to get out of my apartment.
The problem arose though, how am I going to get a ticket to go with this group to Jeju island in Korea. Most tickets are probably sold out or too expensive for my liking. So I looked online and saw that there was a ferry from a town in the south called Mokpo.
So basically on monday I got on a taxi from the school to the train station. I then grabed a train from Daejeon to Mokpo and started my adventure. The KTX high speed train took about 2 hours to get to Mokpo. When I arrived in Mokpo, I hopped in another taxi and had them take me to the ferry terminal (which I sain in Korean), what I didn't know was that there were two. Luckily, when we got to the first ferry terminal I asked "jeju"...and he said "aniyo" which means no and then he kindly directed me to the other one. Let's call this God Provision #1. You'll see lots of these along the trip. So I get to the terminal and grab my reserved ticket for the ferry. I board the ferry and notice the size of it. It was huge...it was a car ferry with maybe 4 levels. So I enter and notice that there are no "seats" as we would normally imagine, basically everyone just shares some carpeted floor space that before you enter you have to take off your shoes. So I notice this and not being so keen to just staying in a room for 4 hours, I decide to go up to the top level where you can be in the open air and see the scenery. So the boat leaves and the scenery was amazing. There were islands everywhere. It was a cloudy day and it still looked beautiful. This was a Korea I hadn't seen yet and I loved it. If this was a sign of what Jeju was going to look like, I was ready. So the 4 hour boat ride went fine....I ate a ramien and watched the islands pass by. When it got too dark I just went back in. The first 3 hours were fine because the water was sheltered by the islands. The last hour was little shaky as we were in open sea, nothing but us and the sea. Quite a thought when it ran through my head.
So I got off the ferry and then I called Nikole, and her friend Tim as they were going to direct me to where the group was located. The all had arrived already by plane and had gotten settled in. I had not. So basically they tell me to get in a taxi and find a plaza. So I tell the first taxi driver this plaza and he points me that I can walk to it from the ferry terminal. So I start to walk and realize, it's not going to happen because I don't know where anything is and it's almost 8:30pm and dark out. So I then flag another taxi down and tell him and he knows where to take me. So then I get to this place and have to get on a bus and be sure to get off at Sunset Beach Hotel....where I will then meet the rest of the group. Easy, except I end up getting off at the wrong spot. So I then call the group again (with about one bar of power on my phone left) and find out I was at the wrong place and need to get another taxi and tell him I'm only willing to pay 10,000won (about $10) to get to CheonJiyeon waterfalls. So I do this and get to the falls. Well, to make this long story short, I finally found the group up enjoying a really sweet waterfalls at night. After that we went back to the harbor and then to Tim's apartment to crash. Basically it was pretty sweet because we got to stay at Tim's apartment and the girls stayed at a friend of his apartment the whole time. Tim is a hogwon teacher that one of the group knew from college.
So that was just the beginning. Day 1.
The problem arose though, how am I going to get a ticket to go with this group to Jeju island in Korea. Most tickets are probably sold out or too expensive for my liking. So I looked online and saw that there was a ferry from a town in the south called Mokpo.
So basically on monday I got on a taxi from the school to the train station. I then grabed a train from Daejeon to Mokpo and started my adventure. The KTX high speed train took about 2 hours to get to Mokpo. When I arrived in Mokpo, I hopped in another taxi and had them take me to the ferry terminal (which I sain in Korean), what I didn't know was that there were two. Luckily, when we got to the first ferry terminal I asked "jeju"...and he said "aniyo" which means no and then he kindly directed me to the other one. Let's call this God Provision #1. You'll see lots of these along the trip. So I get to the terminal and grab my reserved ticket for the ferry. I board the ferry and notice the size of it. It was huge...it was a car ferry with maybe 4 levels. So I enter and notice that there are no "seats" as we would normally imagine, basically everyone just shares some carpeted floor space that before you enter you have to take off your shoes. So I notice this and not being so keen to just staying in a room for 4 hours, I decide to go up to the top level where you can be in the open air and see the scenery. So the boat leaves and the scenery was amazing. There were islands everywhere. It was a cloudy day and it still looked beautiful. This was a Korea I hadn't seen yet and I loved it. If this was a sign of what Jeju was going to look like, I was ready. So the 4 hour boat ride went fine....I ate a ramien and watched the islands pass by. When it got too dark I just went back in. The first 3 hours were fine because the water was sheltered by the islands. The last hour was little shaky as we were in open sea, nothing but us and the sea. Quite a thought when it ran through my head.
So I got off the ferry and then I called Nikole, and her friend Tim as they were going to direct me to where the group was located. The all had arrived already by plane and had gotten settled in. I had not. So basically they tell me to get in a taxi and find a plaza. So I tell the first taxi driver this plaza and he points me that I can walk to it from the ferry terminal. So I start to walk and realize, it's not going to happen because I don't know where anything is and it's almost 8:30pm and dark out. So I then flag another taxi down and tell him and he knows where to take me. So then I get to this place and have to get on a bus and be sure to get off at Sunset Beach Hotel....where I will then meet the rest of the group. Easy, except I end up getting off at the wrong spot. So I then call the group again (with about one bar of power on my phone left) and find out I was at the wrong place and need to get another taxi and tell him I'm only willing to pay 10,000won (about $10) to get to CheonJiyeon waterfalls. So I do this and get to the falls. Well, to make this long story short, I finally found the group up enjoying a really sweet waterfalls at night. After that we went back to the harbor and then to Tim's apartment to crash. Basically it was pretty sweet because we got to stay at Tim's apartment and the girls stayed at a friend of his apartment the whole time. Tim is a hogwon teacher that one of the group knew from college.
So that was just the beginning. Day 1.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Dissobedience....
Have you ever had the gut feeling that you should have done something and yet, you didn't? I had one of those moments today and it kills me inside so let me tell you about it.
Anyway, tonight we took our Seniors out to eat at Outback Steakhouse downtown and it was a great time. We did this to celebrate their time in the dorms and the fact that they graduate in four weeks. Just to let you know, these guys are quality and will be attending some quality univeristies in the states like UPenn, Michigan State, Purdue, and University of Wisconsin. Congrats guys!
So we all had a ton to eat at Outback...we got appetizers and some of the guys got steaks and I got the alice springs chicken. And man, it was good. So we finished and a bunch of us got a small loaf of their delicious break to take home. And so we leave Outback to find a taxi.
Anyway, to find a taxi, we had to cross the street which means going underground to where there are some shops, but you have to take some stairs to get down there. This is where the disobedience starts. On these stairs there is usually one person begging and tonight was no exception. There was a guy there with a box in front of him for money and he looked like he was asleep. So as I'm passing him I think "oh man, this stinks, I don't have any money to give him." Which I didn't, so I get to the top of the stairs and I look down at my hand and noticed that I have the bag with the bread in it.
Then in my mind I hear God saying, go down to that man and offer him the bread. But I think "how, I can't speak korean....he looks like he's asleep...what would other Koreans think about this." As this is going through my head we hang out at a store basically right in front of the stairs where the homeless man is. We stood there for probably 10 minutes and did I go down there and offer him the bread. "No." And that's the part that bothers me. Sure, I can think of helping people out, but I can't do it myself. Why???? I always come up with lame excuses like "he might be faking". If he is faking, who cares? It's a loaf of bread and it's done for the name of the Lord. How can that be wrong. And sure, language is a barrier, but with Christ are there barriers? I beg to answer, "no".
So it's been a tough night for me mentally. I feel like the Lord is speaking to me and yet, sometimes it's so tough for me to answer. I feel like part of me is scared to follow his will and it will lead me to a more uncomfortable life. But you know what...that is exactly what i need. I live far too confortably as a Christian. Tonight I gorged myself on delicious food, in fact, couldn't finish some of the stuff on my plate. I came home with a small loaf of delicious outback bread. And yet....there are millions out there starving....starving of real food and spiritual food.
This isn't to make anybody feel bad or to condemn myself....I write this so that next time this happens, I can remember this moment and not let it happen again.
The Lord is good...he doesn't strike down those who don't listen to him every time. He is patient and just and I pray that I will receive more opportunities.
Anyway, hope you are all having a wonderful week!
Blessings,
Mike
Anyway, tonight we took our Seniors out to eat at Outback Steakhouse downtown and it was a great time. We did this to celebrate their time in the dorms and the fact that they graduate in four weeks. Just to let you know, these guys are quality and will be attending some quality univeristies in the states like UPenn, Michigan State, Purdue, and University of Wisconsin. Congrats guys!
So we all had a ton to eat at Outback...we got appetizers and some of the guys got steaks and I got the alice springs chicken. And man, it was good. So we finished and a bunch of us got a small loaf of their delicious break to take home. And so we leave Outback to find a taxi.
Anyway, to find a taxi, we had to cross the street which means going underground to where there are some shops, but you have to take some stairs to get down there. This is where the disobedience starts. On these stairs there is usually one person begging and tonight was no exception. There was a guy there with a box in front of him for money and he looked like he was asleep. So as I'm passing him I think "oh man, this stinks, I don't have any money to give him." Which I didn't, so I get to the top of the stairs and I look down at my hand and noticed that I have the bag with the bread in it.
Then in my mind I hear God saying, go down to that man and offer him the bread. But I think "how, I can't speak korean....he looks like he's asleep...what would other Koreans think about this." As this is going through my head we hang out at a store basically right in front of the stairs where the homeless man is. We stood there for probably 10 minutes and did I go down there and offer him the bread. "No." And that's the part that bothers me. Sure, I can think of helping people out, but I can't do it myself. Why???? I always come up with lame excuses like "he might be faking". If he is faking, who cares? It's a loaf of bread and it's done for the name of the Lord. How can that be wrong. And sure, language is a barrier, but with Christ are there barriers? I beg to answer, "no".
So it's been a tough night for me mentally. I feel like the Lord is speaking to me and yet, sometimes it's so tough for me to answer. I feel like part of me is scared to follow his will and it will lead me to a more uncomfortable life. But you know what...that is exactly what i need. I live far too confortably as a Christian. Tonight I gorged myself on delicious food, in fact, couldn't finish some of the stuff on my plate. I came home with a small loaf of delicious outback bread. And yet....there are millions out there starving....starving of real food and spiritual food.
This isn't to make anybody feel bad or to condemn myself....I write this so that next time this happens, I can remember this moment and not let it happen again.
The Lord is good...he doesn't strike down those who don't listen to him every time. He is patient and just and I pray that I will receive more opportunities.
Anyway, hope you are all having a wonderful week!
Blessings,
Mike
Saturday, April 28, 2007
What's going on?
Well, it's been a while since I last posted...and yes, new thoughts go through my mind every day I just don't post them here all the time.
This week at school we had Middle School Spiritual Emphasis Week. It's a three day event where we bring in a band and a speaker and the kids get class off for those three days and it's just a fun time for them hearing the word and worship.
We had a band here called Station2 and they were a great band. They did looping and stuff so they sounded like they were a full band even though it was just two of them. I had the priveledge to do sound for them and that was fun as I feel like doing sound for a band could be something I could possibly do in the future if I wanted. Their lyrics were good as well. Also, they brought in a speaker named Mark Canada, and I found out he lived in Willow Street PA for a time which is where my best friend lives right now. Small world, eh?
These last two weeks have been full of fun stuff as well. Going out to eat numerous times and today I went on a 14km hike with some of the staff up on a mountain here. Good times. Got some good photos as well which I'll have to post next time.
So what have I been thinking about Spiritually lately? Well, I feel like I don't have anything mind-blowing, but I've just been thinking about how important it is to reach out to those who don't have. I saw American Idol this week and it was titled, "Idol gives back." It was a 2 hour special where they brought in the big names in Entertainment and did concerts over those 2 hours and raised money for organizations in Africa and organizations in the states that help those who are less fortunate. Now, don't get me wrong, this is good because it provides publicity for these organizations and they get money from American Idol. I think they raised like 30+ million dollars for these organizations and that is good and will help people. But for me, it's hard to see this. To see all these rich people saying do something and the most we can give is 30 million so that they have a better life. I mean, yes, that's a lot of money, but how much more can we do?
I'm the first to be guilty. The whole show while I was watching, I was sad and wanted to cry when they showed some of the situations of the people, and yet, all I could do there was sit on my butt and watch the show and hope that help gets to them. Instead I feel like I should be doing something. I'm so blessed with a good job. How do I know which organization to help though? Or is it better to help people in my own community? Because I know there are tons of people here who could use help as well. Which comes to my next point....
So a while back I posted about how we tried to invite this Korean lady to dinner with us once who was begging on the street and how she refused to go dinner with us. So I was downtown again tonight and we saw her again. But this time I wasn't with someone who spoke Korean who could translate something if I wanted to say something to her. So I just passed her by? But what could I do? What ideas do you have? I could just give her money, but I feel like that's to easy to do. Plus, what is she going to do with it? Instead, I'd love to offer to buy her food, but I can't speak Korean. Ugg, frustration.
So yeah, something needs to be done. So many people in this world are dying and suffering without hearing the name of Jesus. So yeah, we can give lots of money, and that will help, but it's not the money that will ultimately give them the better life I've decided. Yes, it will help, but they need Jesus. And you know what, I believe some people who are poor in other countries have a better quality of life because they depend so much on Christ. They know who will provide for them minute to minute and from knowing that have a peace that surpasses everything else in their lives.
So what's my point? My point is, yes, help by giving money to these organizations, but also concider going there and sharing Christ. But, I beg you to think about that phrase "sharing Christ." I think too often we think we'll just go into a town with a bullhorn and "share Christ", but I think moreso, instead you could go into a community, befriend the people, and then serve. I feel service is one of the most powerful forms of evangelism out there. It's beautiful at times.
Well, all this talk could go on, but I think I'll spare you. I have been reading a blog from a pastor in Malaysia @ http://www.shermankuek.net/ His thoughts are really good, and I'd really encourage you to read them. It might stretch you a little bit and you may feel a bit unconfortable at times, but that's good, isn't it?
That's it from here,
Blessings,
Mike
This week at school we had Middle School Spiritual Emphasis Week. It's a three day event where we bring in a band and a speaker and the kids get class off for those three days and it's just a fun time for them hearing the word and worship.
We had a band here called Station2 and they were a great band. They did looping and stuff so they sounded like they were a full band even though it was just two of them. I had the priveledge to do sound for them and that was fun as I feel like doing sound for a band could be something I could possibly do in the future if I wanted. Their lyrics were good as well. Also, they brought in a speaker named Mark Canada, and I found out he lived in Willow Street PA for a time which is where my best friend lives right now. Small world, eh?
These last two weeks have been full of fun stuff as well. Going out to eat numerous times and today I went on a 14km hike with some of the staff up on a mountain here. Good times. Got some good photos as well which I'll have to post next time.
So what have I been thinking about Spiritually lately? Well, I feel like I don't have anything mind-blowing, but I've just been thinking about how important it is to reach out to those who don't have. I saw American Idol this week and it was titled, "Idol gives back." It was a 2 hour special where they brought in the big names in Entertainment and did concerts over those 2 hours and raised money for organizations in Africa and organizations in the states that help those who are less fortunate. Now, don't get me wrong, this is good because it provides publicity for these organizations and they get money from American Idol. I think they raised like 30+ million dollars for these organizations and that is good and will help people. But for me, it's hard to see this. To see all these rich people saying do something and the most we can give is 30 million so that they have a better life. I mean, yes, that's a lot of money, but how much more can we do?
I'm the first to be guilty. The whole show while I was watching, I was sad and wanted to cry when they showed some of the situations of the people, and yet, all I could do there was sit on my butt and watch the show and hope that help gets to them. Instead I feel like I should be doing something. I'm so blessed with a good job. How do I know which organization to help though? Or is it better to help people in my own community? Because I know there are tons of people here who could use help as well. Which comes to my next point....
So a while back I posted about how we tried to invite this Korean lady to dinner with us once who was begging on the street and how she refused to go dinner with us. So I was downtown again tonight and we saw her again. But this time I wasn't with someone who spoke Korean who could translate something if I wanted to say something to her. So I just passed her by? But what could I do? What ideas do you have? I could just give her money, but I feel like that's to easy to do. Plus, what is she going to do with it? Instead, I'd love to offer to buy her food, but I can't speak Korean. Ugg, frustration.
So yeah, something needs to be done. So many people in this world are dying and suffering without hearing the name of Jesus. So yeah, we can give lots of money, and that will help, but it's not the money that will ultimately give them the better life I've decided. Yes, it will help, but they need Jesus. And you know what, I believe some people who are poor in other countries have a better quality of life because they depend so much on Christ. They know who will provide for them minute to minute and from knowing that have a peace that surpasses everything else in their lives.
So what's my point? My point is, yes, help by giving money to these organizations, but also concider going there and sharing Christ. But, I beg you to think about that phrase "sharing Christ." I think too often we think we'll just go into a town with a bullhorn and "share Christ", but I think moreso, instead you could go into a community, befriend the people, and then serve. I feel service is one of the most powerful forms of evangelism out there. It's beautiful at times.
Well, all this talk could go on, but I think I'll spare you. I have been reading a blog from a pastor in Malaysia @ http://www.shermankuek.net/ His thoughts are really good, and I'd really encourage you to read them. It might stretch you a little bit and you may feel a bit unconfortable at times, but that's good, isn't it?
That's it from here,
Blessings,
Mike
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Church?
Well, it's been a pretty unevenful last week in all seriousness. And these last four days have honestly been pretty boring for me. The first two days I was off, and there were student-teacher conferences going on. Then these last two days I have been on in the dorm, but it's been boring because we only had two guys here. Well, we had three, but we had an incident last night with smoking where we had to send one guy home on a one day suspension. So that part wasn't cool and I had to be the one to deal with it until I could get a hold of Dan or Jaime or Brent. The others that help with the dorm stuff who I feel are much more experienced than me. Luckily I found them in like 5 minutes, so that was good.
Anyway, today was church and it was pretty good. The headmaster at the school here spoke on taking risk. He says not enough Christians take risks in their lives in reaching those who don't know Christ. And he showed biblical examples of those who took risks and the consequences of those risks but how it was a necessary risk to reach those who don't know Christ. Then after church I hung out with friends and we had bfast stuff for lunch. It was quite good even though it was my second bfast of the day. But who cares. It was still good.
Alright, so with the title of this post, I've been thinking so much about the Church and where it's gone from Bible days and where I feel it could go. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a huge fan of the modern church....I'll admit it, I like that good feeling I get when the worship is just right and when the electric guitar is cranking. I also like the lights, and the showy type stuff. But with all these books that I've been reading I feel like the church can do so much more. I feel like churches in general today aren't doing much to reach their communities around them. I mean how many times do you see homeless people in the church? How many times do you see the needy, the prostitutes, and gangsters in the church? I dunno, it just doesn't seem right....the church in Jesus' time I can imagine would've been filled with these types of people. The church today just seems so homogeneous with the people all wearing smiles and looking all alike.
Why can't we as a church (as believers) admit we have problems? It seems like we all come to church and talk about how life is going so perfect for us...when deep inside we all have issues going on in our lives. I'll be the first to admit, if you ask me how I'm doing, I'll often tell you fine, even though there might be something going on that's deeper. But this is something I really am trying to work on. To be more honest with those around me that when I'm not doing fine to be able to express it. I mean think about this: If we as a church (as believers) admitted that we have issues, maybe the poor, the prostitutes, and other notorious "sinners" wouldn't look so bad anymore and our churches wouldn't be so homogenous. I think it'd be easier to love those people when we realize we are dealing with issues as well.
Don't get me wrong though, there are things that Churches are doing that is very commendable as well. I just feel like there is a lot more that could be done.
A couple final questions to think on and I'd love to hear responses: If there were no more church buildings, would the "church" still exist? What would it look like? Would it be easier to accept the "sinners" if we didn't meet in such a formal location?
Oh, here are some sweet lyrics to a new song I love by Hillsong United:
Hillsong United - Solution
It is not a human right
To stand afar while broken nations dream
Open up our eyes, so blind
That we might find the mercy for the need
Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession
It is not too far a cry
Too much to try to help the least of these
Politicians should not decide if we should rise
And be your hands and feet
Singing...
Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession
Whoa-oo-ooh
God, be their solution
Whoa-oo-ooh
We will be your hands and be your feet
Yeah Yeah
Higher than our circumstance
You promise and your love for all to see
Higher than our protest lines and dollar signs
Your love is all we need
Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession
Whoa-oo-ooh
God, be their solution
Whoa-oo-ooh
We will be your hands and be your feet
Whoa-oo-ooh
God, be their solution
Whoa-oo-ooh
We will be your hands and be your feet
Whoa Yeah
Only you can mend the broken heart
And cause the blind to see
You erase complete the sinner's past
And set the captives free
Only you can take the widow's cry
And cause the heart to see
Be the Father to the fatherless
Our Saviour and our King
We will be your hands
We will be your feet
We run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place we will be your light,
We will you light
We will be your hands
We will be your feet
We run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place we will be your light,
We will you light
Whoa-oo-ooh
God, be their solution
Whoa-oo-ooh
We will be your hands and be your feet
Whoa-oo-ooh
God, be their solution
Whoa-oo-ooh
We will be your hands and be your feet
We will
We will
God be the solution
We will
We will
God be the solution
We will be your hands
We will be your feet
We run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place we will be your light,
We will you light...
Till Next Time,
Mike
Anyway, today was church and it was pretty good. The headmaster at the school here spoke on taking risk. He says not enough Christians take risks in their lives in reaching those who don't know Christ. And he showed biblical examples of those who took risks and the consequences of those risks but how it was a necessary risk to reach those who don't know Christ. Then after church I hung out with friends and we had bfast stuff for lunch. It was quite good even though it was my second bfast of the day. But who cares. It was still good.
Alright, so with the title of this post, I've been thinking so much about the Church and where it's gone from Bible days and where I feel it could go. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a huge fan of the modern church....I'll admit it, I like that good feeling I get when the worship is just right and when the electric guitar is cranking. I also like the lights, and the showy type stuff. But with all these books that I've been reading I feel like the church can do so much more. I feel like churches in general today aren't doing much to reach their communities around them. I mean how many times do you see homeless people in the church? How many times do you see the needy, the prostitutes, and gangsters in the church? I dunno, it just doesn't seem right....the church in Jesus' time I can imagine would've been filled with these types of people. The church today just seems so homogeneous with the people all wearing smiles and looking all alike.
Why can't we as a church (as believers) admit we have problems? It seems like we all come to church and talk about how life is going so perfect for us...when deep inside we all have issues going on in our lives. I'll be the first to admit, if you ask me how I'm doing, I'll often tell you fine, even though there might be something going on that's deeper. But this is something I really am trying to work on. To be more honest with those around me that when I'm not doing fine to be able to express it. I mean think about this: If we as a church (as believers) admitted that we have issues, maybe the poor, the prostitutes, and other notorious "sinners" wouldn't look so bad anymore and our churches wouldn't be so homogenous. I think it'd be easier to love those people when we realize we are dealing with issues as well.
Don't get me wrong though, there are things that Churches are doing that is very commendable as well. I just feel like there is a lot more that could be done.
A couple final questions to think on and I'd love to hear responses: If there were no more church buildings, would the "church" still exist? What would it look like? Would it be easier to accept the "sinners" if we didn't meet in such a formal location?
Oh, here are some sweet lyrics to a new song I love by Hillsong United:
Hillsong United - Solution
It is not a human right
To stand afar while broken nations dream
Open up our eyes, so blind
That we might find the mercy for the need
Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession
It is not too far a cry
Too much to try to help the least of these
Politicians should not decide if we should rise
And be your hands and feet
Singing...
Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession
Whoa-oo-ooh
God, be their solution
Whoa-oo-ooh
We will be your hands and be your feet
Yeah Yeah
Higher than our circumstance
You promise and your love for all to see
Higher than our protest lines and dollar signs
Your love is all we need
Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession
Whoa-oo-ooh
God, be their solution
Whoa-oo-ooh
We will be your hands and be your feet
Whoa-oo-ooh
God, be their solution
Whoa-oo-ooh
We will be your hands and be your feet
Whoa Yeah
Only you can mend the broken heart
And cause the blind to see
You erase complete the sinner's past
And set the captives free
Only you can take the widow's cry
And cause the heart to see
Be the Father to the fatherless
Our Saviour and our King
We will be your hands
We will be your feet
We run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place we will be your light,
We will you light
We will be your hands
We will be your feet
We run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place we will be your light,
We will you light
Whoa-oo-ooh
God, be their solution
Whoa-oo-ooh
We will be your hands and be your feet
Whoa-oo-ooh
God, be their solution
Whoa-oo-ooh
We will be your hands and be your feet
We will
We will
God be the solution
We will
We will
God be the solution
We will be your hands
We will be your feet
We run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place we will be your light,
We will you light...
Till Next Time,
Mike
Monday, April 9, 2007
Time for an Update
Alright, so it's been a little while since i've updated and for that I appologize. Not too much has been going on though. This last weekend was the spiritual retreat here at the dorm. It's an optional thing and we had about 35 kids there and then about 35 angels. The angels are kids who attended the retreat the year before and they come back and they serve. So the angels are in the background setting stuff up and doing other stuff. It's quite a beautiful set up and the kids were great.
It was a great weekend overall just seeing the kids serve and seeing the kids be served. Also, the kids were great affected spiritually as well. There was a testimony part at the end of the weekend and from what the kids said, it sounded like they learned a lot. So praise God for that because I wasn't sure how the kids would react. I mean we took their cellphones and watches and they couldn't have them. So for them, it was quite a stretch to not have that stuff. I mean even now I would have a tough time going without the cellphone or watch or clocks. Why am I so time-oriented. Why can't I become more like the Latin cultures, or the Malaysian culture and be laid back. That would be sweet, but alas I can't.
So besides that, not too much is going on. Just normal life and dorm life. And that is good, that is what's expected. I can't ask for a better job right now that seems to fit me for what I like to do.
So with this job there is a lot of free time and recently I've been reading a lot. I just finished two books which have really been changing my ideas on spirituality upsidedown. The books are "messy spirituality" by Michael Yaconelli, and "a new kind of Christian." I can't remember right now who is the author of that one. But both books are really good reads. Messy Spirituality is an easier read, but A New Kind of Chirstian will challenge you quite a bit in your walk. For one, both of these books have really challenged me with getting to know some non-Christians. I mean all my life I've only been surrounded by Christians. I mean sure, I went to a Secular University, but all my friends were Christians. So a big challenge right now for me is to not feel so uncomfortable around non-Christians. It seems when I'm around non-Christians I clam up when ever I hear a swear word or where they don't do something Christian. And you know what...I don't like that about myself. I need to be able to show them that I'm comfortable with where they are at and show them Love and through that work with them. If I clam up and always condemn them with my thoughts, where does that get us?
Also, Messy Spirituality really helped me out as sometimes I get down on myself because at times I don't feel extremely spiritual, but this book points out that the spiritual walk is not a straight line up, but it's like a roller coaster and that you can still be spiritual and not be spending hours in the Word every day. Don't get me wrong, spending hours in the Word is a good thing, but it's not necessary every day to be Spiritual or to be a Christian. You can throughout the day and be thinking about God in whatever you are doing. And I feel like a lot of times throughout the day I do try to incorporate God into my thoughts.
A new kind of Christian has really detailed what "post-modern" really means. It was a good read. Although I'm still trying to comprehend some of the stuff, but a big part of it is just how the modern culture has adapted Christianity into the modern practices. And that's good for the "modern" culture, but the culture is changing and is thus "post-modern." Thus the church needs to change as well to meet the needs of that culture. It's hard to detail what the book said so I would just say read it and read it with an open mind.
I'm not saying these books are absolute truth and that the authors said everything 100% true. But I will say read the books and check it with the Bible. Test it, check it, and test it again. I will say that I feel like after reading these books I have a slightly bigger grasp on what it means to be a Christian and I'm learning that it's not as easy to be a Christian as I thought. I have a lot of growing up to do.
Please pray that I can start to grow up in my Christianity. Theres so much that I can do for other people out there that I don't do yet. For example, talking to the homeless, or inviting them to dinner, or just Loving on non-Christians. And I want to be able to do that without shame.
Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I can put more stuff down once I gather my thoughts from all this reading.
It was a great weekend overall just seeing the kids serve and seeing the kids be served. Also, the kids were great affected spiritually as well. There was a testimony part at the end of the weekend and from what the kids said, it sounded like they learned a lot. So praise God for that because I wasn't sure how the kids would react. I mean we took their cellphones and watches and they couldn't have them. So for them, it was quite a stretch to not have that stuff. I mean even now I would have a tough time going without the cellphone or watch or clocks. Why am I so time-oriented. Why can't I become more like the Latin cultures, or the Malaysian culture and be laid back. That would be sweet, but alas I can't.
So besides that, not too much is going on. Just normal life and dorm life. And that is good, that is what's expected. I can't ask for a better job right now that seems to fit me for what I like to do.
So with this job there is a lot of free time and recently I've been reading a lot. I just finished two books which have really been changing my ideas on spirituality upsidedown. The books are "messy spirituality" by Michael Yaconelli, and "a new kind of Christian." I can't remember right now who is the author of that one. But both books are really good reads. Messy Spirituality is an easier read, but A New Kind of Chirstian will challenge you quite a bit in your walk. For one, both of these books have really challenged me with getting to know some non-Christians. I mean all my life I've only been surrounded by Christians. I mean sure, I went to a Secular University, but all my friends were Christians. So a big challenge right now for me is to not feel so uncomfortable around non-Christians. It seems when I'm around non-Christians I clam up when ever I hear a swear word or where they don't do something Christian. And you know what...I don't like that about myself. I need to be able to show them that I'm comfortable with where they are at and show them Love and through that work with them. If I clam up and always condemn them with my thoughts, where does that get us?
Also, Messy Spirituality really helped me out as sometimes I get down on myself because at times I don't feel extremely spiritual, but this book points out that the spiritual walk is not a straight line up, but it's like a roller coaster and that you can still be spiritual and not be spending hours in the Word every day. Don't get me wrong, spending hours in the Word is a good thing, but it's not necessary every day to be Spiritual or to be a Christian. You can throughout the day and be thinking about God in whatever you are doing. And I feel like a lot of times throughout the day I do try to incorporate God into my thoughts.
A new kind of Christian has really detailed what "post-modern" really means. It was a good read. Although I'm still trying to comprehend some of the stuff, but a big part of it is just how the modern culture has adapted Christianity into the modern practices. And that's good for the "modern" culture, but the culture is changing and is thus "post-modern." Thus the church needs to change as well to meet the needs of that culture. It's hard to detail what the book said so I would just say read it and read it with an open mind.
I'm not saying these books are absolute truth and that the authors said everything 100% true. But I will say read the books and check it with the Bible. Test it, check it, and test it again. I will say that I feel like after reading these books I have a slightly bigger grasp on what it means to be a Christian and I'm learning that it's not as easy to be a Christian as I thought. I have a lot of growing up to do.
Please pray that I can start to grow up in my Christianity. Theres so much that I can do for other people out there that I don't do yet. For example, talking to the homeless, or inviting them to dinner, or just Loving on non-Christians. And I want to be able to do that without shame.
Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I can put more stuff down once I gather my thoughts from all this reading.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Sapi Island/Final Day
Wow, what a trip it's been so far. So much done, and yet, I feel like I've only touched the surface of what is Borneo. There is so much to explore and so little time. So I asked Vincent what the best thing to do was and he said to do some Snorkelling on the islands nearby. So I heeded his advice. Actually he wanted me to do diving, but that would take more days and I don't have that. He does some awesome diving trips, so maybe next time I come to borneo I can do a diving trip and get certified.
Anyway, today we got up and he drove Michelle and I to the Jetty to get boat to Sapi Island. On the way we passed a water village. The water villages here are villages of houses/shacks on the water on stilts. But Vincent says in a few years they won't be here anymore. That makes me sad. He says the people aren't really being compensated for their houses. Instead they are being forced out and they getting discounts on apartments or other new houses. Not sure how I feel about that. Anyway, we get to the island and it's a gorgeous island jungle/paradise island. Not many people, white sands, and crystal clear water. Not to mention that it's very hot. Also, the crazy thing we found out was that 3 people have died at Sapi. One drowning, one some other way (don't remember), and one person was stung by a deadly jellyfish. They had signs up warning that it was jellyfish season.
So I find a trail on the island and decide to hike it. It's a 1km trail and it circles the whole island, so decide it's not too bad. Anyway, it turned out to be great and found even more secluded beaches. Wonderful white sand/crystal clear water beaches. Nicest I've seen in quite a while. So after the hike, I get some snack food and head to the beach. I still haven't decided whether to snorkel or not and whether it's worth it. Even though it's only like $5. Finally I decide to snorkel, and I snorkeled for about an hour. It was nice. The coral wasn't the prettiest, but the fish were there and they were nice and it was fun to swim among them. Again, it was just incredible to see God's creation in it's purest form.
So after the island we went back to the lodge and greeted some of the new people that got there today. Then I went with Ronald and two of the new people who were actaully on the mountain with me to the airport. We went there to change a plane ticket for the two new people Oh yeah, Ronald. I haven't mentioned him yet. He works for Vincent. He's a nice guy. He's 26, grew up in the jungle and doens't have his parents anymore. But he's a down to earth guy and was fun to hang out with. Anyway, then in the evening we went to go eat more stingray down by the waterfront and did. Very good. Also, went to the night market again and I picked up some stuff, and then went back to the lodge. Oh yeah, Vincent was able to find me a Malaysian flag, so that was awesome.
Well, as you can see, it was quite the trip. The flight back was normal, like any flight, except late at night which always stinks as I never get enough sleep. So yeah, what a blessing to be able to go to Borneo. Like I said before, if you ever go to Borneo, stay at the Tropicana Lodge. It's a great place to stay. The people of Borneo are among the nicest I've met. Malay sounds a bit like Spanish. Their alphabet is nearly similar in prononsiation. The people are beautiful as well with being such a large mix of cultures. The weather is incredible. Hot and sunny and rain every once in a while in the afternoon. It's hard to be back in Korea where it's still in the 40s. Oh well, I know God called me here as well. I do hope to be able to go back to Borneo though and do some Diving and also check out some of the other stuff, like Elephants and Monkeys. So much I haven't explored yet. I'd need at least 2 weeks more.
So, thanks for all your prayers. They were there in the travelling, in the hiking, in the swimming, in the waterfall exploring, and in the chitchatting with people. I pray that the people saw something different in me. That they saw Christ shining through me. Join with me in praying for these people that I met. Especially vincent and the situation with his son.
Thanks guys and blessings.
Pictures and videos below:
Sapi Island/Last Day
Malaysia Videos
Anyway, today we got up and he drove Michelle and I to the Jetty to get boat to Sapi Island. On the way we passed a water village. The water villages here are villages of houses/shacks on the water on stilts. But Vincent says in a few years they won't be here anymore. That makes me sad. He says the people aren't really being compensated for their houses. Instead they are being forced out and they getting discounts on apartments or other new houses. Not sure how I feel about that. Anyway, we get to the island and it's a gorgeous island jungle/paradise island. Not many people, white sands, and crystal clear water. Not to mention that it's very hot. Also, the crazy thing we found out was that 3 people have died at Sapi. One drowning, one some other way (don't remember), and one person was stung by a deadly jellyfish. They had signs up warning that it was jellyfish season.
So I find a trail on the island and decide to hike it. It's a 1km trail and it circles the whole island, so decide it's not too bad. Anyway, it turned out to be great and found even more secluded beaches. Wonderful white sand/crystal clear water beaches. Nicest I've seen in quite a while. So after the hike, I get some snack food and head to the beach. I still haven't decided whether to snorkel or not and whether it's worth it. Even though it's only like $5. Finally I decide to snorkel, and I snorkeled for about an hour. It was nice. The coral wasn't the prettiest, but the fish were there and they were nice and it was fun to swim among them. Again, it was just incredible to see God's creation in it's purest form.
So after the island we went back to the lodge and greeted some of the new people that got there today. Then I went with Ronald and two of the new people who were actaully on the mountain with me to the airport. We went there to change a plane ticket for the two new people Oh yeah, Ronald. I haven't mentioned him yet. He works for Vincent. He's a nice guy. He's 26, grew up in the jungle and doens't have his parents anymore. But he's a down to earth guy and was fun to hang out with. Anyway, then in the evening we went to go eat more stingray down by the waterfront and did. Very good. Also, went to the night market again and I picked up some stuff, and then went back to the lodge. Oh yeah, Vincent was able to find me a Malaysian flag, so that was awesome.
Well, as you can see, it was quite the trip. The flight back was normal, like any flight, except late at night which always stinks as I never get enough sleep. So yeah, what a blessing to be able to go to Borneo. Like I said before, if you ever go to Borneo, stay at the Tropicana Lodge. It's a great place to stay. The people of Borneo are among the nicest I've met. Malay sounds a bit like Spanish. Their alphabet is nearly similar in prononsiation. The people are beautiful as well with being such a large mix of cultures. The weather is incredible. Hot and sunny and rain every once in a while in the afternoon. It's hard to be back in Korea where it's still in the 40s. Oh well, I know God called me here as well. I do hope to be able to go back to Borneo though and do some Diving and also check out some of the other stuff, like Elephants and Monkeys. So much I haven't explored yet. I'd need at least 2 weeks more.
So, thanks for all your prayers. They were there in the travelling, in the hiking, in the swimming, in the waterfall exploring, and in the chitchatting with people. I pray that the people saw something different in me. That they saw Christ shining through me. Join with me in praying for these people that I met. Especially vincent and the situation with his son.
Thanks guys and blessings.
Pictures and videos below:
Sapi Island/Last Day
Malaysia Videos
Rafflesia Tour
Alright, so today we started off by going to bfast as a group. Me, Michelle, Rahmat, and Najjif as the two guys were leaving. So we have bfast and say goodbye to them. And then we go back to the lodge and get ready for the Rafflesia tour.
So, Vincent then drives us about an hour and half to the Rafflesia center. We get out and meet the guide who will take us to find the Rafflesia. If you don't know, the rafflesia is the worlds Largest flower. It can get to be fairly huge. They are hard to find though.
So you know how I said I wouldn't hike anymore. Well, it ends up to find the flower, the guide took us through the forest on a trail that went down probably about a 1000 ft and 2 km. So I did more hiking. Anyway, this was probably my least favorite part of the trip. I mean really, hike this far to find a flower. Anyway, we get to the bottom and find one Rafflesia that has bloomed. I suppose this is good though because they say it's hard to find them in bloom. They take 8 months to go from bud to bloom. That's crazy, eh? So we got a picture of the flower and hiked back up all sweaty again. When I got to the top I looked down at my leg and saw something on it. Ugh, it was a leach so I don't know what to do. So Vincent grabs the leech and pulls it. Luckily it hadn't been on there too long because it left go after a while and the spot started to bleed a little.
In reality, I thought it was pretty sweet. A leech was sucking my blood....that sounds adventurous. Supposedly there are a lot of leeches in the deep forest. So after the rafflesia tour, Vincent drives us to the town of Tambanan. This is a beautiful town that reminded me of Belize in a lot of ways. It's a poorer town, but Vincent said it's a strong Christian town. The countryside here was absolutely beautiful. So we stop here to have lunch. We stop at this place and have rice, some pork and some Wild Boar meat. Mmmm, wild boar meat. Very delicious. As we leave, Michelle says that I have to try this stuff called Bau. It's bread type stuff with meat and cheese in the middle. It was delicious.
One of the sad things was that when we left, the one kid at the restaurant was smoking. He was probably on 14 or 15. Sad.
We left here and went to see the "Magic Stones". We get to this place and there are these stones that are large and have smaller stones on top. Anyway, the large stones are hollow inside. So when you bang on them with smaller rocks, it makes a chime sound. It was pretty neat.
After this we then went to Crocker Range National Park. About a 8km drive through some rough roads. Then we get to the park and walk about another 500 meters to the waterfall. We get there and it's so refreshing. We hang out, take pictures, and then we walk behind the waterfall and tried to take pictures there too. Quite amazing trip.
To top it off, we get back to the lodge around 7 and Vincent makes dinner for us. So we had garlic vegetables, and we each had a barracuda steak. If you've never had Barracuda, you need to try some. It's awesome.
More Pictures Below:
Rafflesia Tour/Waterfall/Fun
So, Vincent then drives us about an hour and half to the Rafflesia center. We get out and meet the guide who will take us to find the Rafflesia. If you don't know, the rafflesia is the worlds Largest flower. It can get to be fairly huge. They are hard to find though.
So you know how I said I wouldn't hike anymore. Well, it ends up to find the flower, the guide took us through the forest on a trail that went down probably about a 1000 ft and 2 km. So I did more hiking. Anyway, this was probably my least favorite part of the trip. I mean really, hike this far to find a flower. Anyway, we get to the bottom and find one Rafflesia that has bloomed. I suppose this is good though because they say it's hard to find them in bloom. They take 8 months to go from bud to bloom. That's crazy, eh? So we got a picture of the flower and hiked back up all sweaty again. When I got to the top I looked down at my leg and saw something on it. Ugh, it was a leach so I don't know what to do. So Vincent grabs the leech and pulls it. Luckily it hadn't been on there too long because it left go after a while and the spot started to bleed a little.
In reality, I thought it was pretty sweet. A leech was sucking my blood....that sounds adventurous. Supposedly there are a lot of leeches in the deep forest. So after the rafflesia tour, Vincent drives us to the town of Tambanan. This is a beautiful town that reminded me of Belize in a lot of ways. It's a poorer town, but Vincent said it's a strong Christian town. The countryside here was absolutely beautiful. So we stop here to have lunch. We stop at this place and have rice, some pork and some Wild Boar meat. Mmmm, wild boar meat. Very delicious. As we leave, Michelle says that I have to try this stuff called Bau. It's bread type stuff with meat and cheese in the middle. It was delicious.
One of the sad things was that when we left, the one kid at the restaurant was smoking. He was probably on 14 or 15. Sad.
We left here and went to see the "Magic Stones". We get to this place and there are these stones that are large and have smaller stones on top. Anyway, the large stones are hollow inside. So when you bang on them with smaller rocks, it makes a chime sound. It was pretty neat.
After this we then went to Crocker Range National Park. About a 8km drive through some rough roads. Then we get to the park and walk about another 500 meters to the waterfall. We get there and it's so refreshing. We hang out, take pictures, and then we walk behind the waterfall and tried to take pictures there too. Quite amazing trip.
To top it off, we get back to the lodge around 7 and Vincent makes dinner for us. So we had garlic vegetables, and we each had a barracuda steak. If you've never had Barracuda, you need to try some. It's awesome.
More Pictures Below:
Rafflesia Tour/Waterfall/Fun
Mt. Kinabalu (Day 2 and 3)
Alright, so on the second day in Kota Kinabalu I decided to go to Mt. Kinabalu to do the climb. I decided to stay at a resort the night before, near Mt. Kinabalu so I wouldn't have to endure the bus ride the same day as my climb. So on Sunday, Vincent drove me to the bus stop so that I could go to my resort. So I get in this little van that will drive me to Mt. Kinabalu. The experience in the van was good. It reminded me of being in a third world country very much so. I say this mostly because the people in the van along with me weren't tourists and that was good. It was a lady with three kids. One of the kids had snot running down his nose and the one kid took a pee just outside the van. Why do I say this? I say it because I had compassion for them. I wanted to speak to them, but I didn't know Malay. I wish I did. Anyway, the family was beautiful, and I'm sure God saw them as beautiful...even when most people would just write them off.
So I took the van ride for 2 hours or so up mountains and around corners and roads without guide rails. Again, this trip was covered in a lot of prayer. Mostly when travelling :-) It was pretty much constant as well. So we get to kandansan where my resort is supposed to be, so the van drops me off and I ask "Kinabalu Pine Resort" and the driver kind of points off to the right. So I go to the right and go up this hill and don't find it. Mind you I'm in the country now and there aren't many people. So I stop by this nice looking place, and I see this guy and ask him about Kinabalu Pine Resort and he points from where I came from and then points down the road. So I walk about 500 meters down the road and find it. It's a beautiful place and I check in. Then the rest of the evening was pretty much restful. Dinner was included and was huge. I had crab soup, sweet and sour prawns, cashew chicken, and garlic celery. Mmm, it was so much food and soo good. Also had fresh sqeezed pineapple juice again.
So I slept the night there and then in the morning got a shuttle bus from there to the mountain. At the mountain I signed in, got my permit and got my guide. My guide's name was Bungin. He was a great guy. He was a smaller guy, but looked like he had climbed the mountain many times. He didn't know much English though which was a little hard. So we then get a shuttle bus to Timpohon Gate, the start of the trail up the mountain.
Then we hike up the mountain to the rest house about 3km shy of the peak. A little about the trail. The trail up the mountain is mostly comprised of stairs. Yes, 2500 according to one guide book. So it's a tough climb if you don't like stairs. Every km or so there is a rest area where you can sit and get some water and use the bathroom if you need to. Of course I stopped at most of these. But I did make it up to the lodge in about 4.5 hours. Which is quite good. We passed a lot of people. I give credit to my guide as he was always telling me to pass people. Ugh, I was so sweaty though and my clothes were disgusting. On the way up though, I did meet some really nice people. I met a group from a Christian church in Kota Kinabalu. They invited me to church, but I wouldn't be there another Sunday. Maybe if I'm ever in Kota Kinabalu again. The trail was fun as well because you would pass through different types of forest and clouds and such.
So I get to the top at about 1:30pm and realize I have till at least 7 to chill. So I change out of some of my sweaty clothes and go to hang out at Laban Rata. Laban Rata is the main lodging up on the mountain. Not where I was staying though, but there was a restaurant there, so I got some delicious Sabah coffee. I then hung out and talked to an English couple up there who has been touring SE Asia for the last few months. They are looking for TEFL teaching jobs though, so I told them I'd send them some info about teaching in Korea.
Anyway, I then have dinner up there and go to bed around 7pm. Yes, 7pm. It's already cloudy on the mountain and I realize I have to get up at 2am to start the hike to the top around 3am. So in the morning I trek down a bit to Laban Rata to have bfast and to meet bungin. We meet around 3 and start the hike up. Note...this hike up is in complete darkeness besides having a headlamp. So there is a line up the mountain of lights. It was quite amazing. There were probably a good 100 people hiking up that morning. Anyway, most people started at 2:30 in the morning. We started at 3, but began catching up to people, so like normal Bungin fasion, we passed them. The last 2km of the hike to the top are on pure granite. It was a clear morning so there wasn't any problem with weather. On the granite there is a rope that you can hold on to or follow. We just followed it as it's quicker that way. Parts of the trail in the morning were scary as it was complete darkness and you don't know how close you are to the edge. In reality we weren't too close, but we didn't know that. Stamina was key for this part as the last two km are killer as you just want to get to the top but don't know where it is. I swear my guide said 300 more meters and it turned out to be another km. Finally Bungin and I reach the peak in complete darkness and somehow we are the only ones up there. Did we pass everyone? Well, if nothing else, we were the only ones atop the 13,000+ ft peak. I got a few pictures and waited for the sunrise. Yes, I had to wait 45 minutes up there for it. We got to the top around 5am. It was cold though. I had my sweater on, a long sleeve shirt, my long john shirt, a beanie, and gloves and I was still cold.
It was soo worth it though when the sun came up. Everything came into light and it was mind blowing how beautiful everything was. Truly spectacular. Even at the top I couldn't help but thing how Amazing God is with creating things like he has. By the time the sun came up there were lots of other people up top with us.
So after about an hour and half up to Bungin and I take a few last pictures and then head back down the mountain. This part wasn't so bad. I get back to Gunting Lagadan and grab my bag and tell Bungin we'll do the last 6km down the mountain at 9. So at 9 we head back down. This part wasn't bad for the first 2km. Then the last 4km were killer. Going down so many steps kills your legs. And I was sweating and thought I'd get heat stroke or something. Luckily I didn't. But by the last km I just wanted to quit. But we kept pushing. We got down to the bottom by about 12:45 and the guy at the shuttle bus said we came down fast. Thanks Bungin :-D So I went back to the HQ and got a certificate that said I successfully climbed Mt. Kinabalu. After this I told myself I wouldn't do any more stairs or treks. You'll find out later that I lied.
So then I went to get a bus back to Kota Kinabalu and found one, then got back to the lodge sore and was welcomed by everyone at the lodge. Then in the evening I went with Najjif and Rahmat to the waterfront to see the sunset. It was a nice sunset. We also walked through the Philippino market to see crafts. Then after this we went to the fish market. Here there are tons of vendors grilling their fish. We find one vendor and we hit the jackpot. The fish here is sooooo cheap. We get a thing of tuna steak, some squid with squid roe in it, and stingray. Mmmm, it was so good. So we eat there, without silverwear which was great and talk to this couple that's sitting with us and he is a pilot for Malaysia Airlines. Nice couple. Then we went back to the Lodge and just chatted the rest of the night away which was great.
Also, I talked with Vincent about what to do the next day and he recommends the Rafflesia tour. It's one that he'll take us on and it's a cheap price. So Michelle and I end up telling him we'll go on it as the other two guys leave tomorrow.
More pictures below, now of the climb:
Mount Kinabalu Trip
So I took the van ride for 2 hours or so up mountains and around corners and roads without guide rails. Again, this trip was covered in a lot of prayer. Mostly when travelling :-) It was pretty much constant as well. So we get to kandansan where my resort is supposed to be, so the van drops me off and I ask "Kinabalu Pine Resort" and the driver kind of points off to the right. So I go to the right and go up this hill and don't find it. Mind you I'm in the country now and there aren't many people. So I stop by this nice looking place, and I see this guy and ask him about Kinabalu Pine Resort and he points from where I came from and then points down the road. So I walk about 500 meters down the road and find it. It's a beautiful place and I check in. Then the rest of the evening was pretty much restful. Dinner was included and was huge. I had crab soup, sweet and sour prawns, cashew chicken, and garlic celery. Mmm, it was so much food and soo good. Also had fresh sqeezed pineapple juice again.
So I slept the night there and then in the morning got a shuttle bus from there to the mountain. At the mountain I signed in, got my permit and got my guide. My guide's name was Bungin. He was a great guy. He was a smaller guy, but looked like he had climbed the mountain many times. He didn't know much English though which was a little hard. So we then get a shuttle bus to Timpohon Gate, the start of the trail up the mountain.
Then we hike up the mountain to the rest house about 3km shy of the peak. A little about the trail. The trail up the mountain is mostly comprised of stairs. Yes, 2500 according to one guide book. So it's a tough climb if you don't like stairs. Every km or so there is a rest area where you can sit and get some water and use the bathroom if you need to. Of course I stopped at most of these. But I did make it up to the lodge in about 4.5 hours. Which is quite good. We passed a lot of people. I give credit to my guide as he was always telling me to pass people. Ugh, I was so sweaty though and my clothes were disgusting. On the way up though, I did meet some really nice people. I met a group from a Christian church in Kota Kinabalu. They invited me to church, but I wouldn't be there another Sunday. Maybe if I'm ever in Kota Kinabalu again. The trail was fun as well because you would pass through different types of forest and clouds and such.
So I get to the top at about 1:30pm and realize I have till at least 7 to chill. So I change out of some of my sweaty clothes and go to hang out at Laban Rata. Laban Rata is the main lodging up on the mountain. Not where I was staying though, but there was a restaurant there, so I got some delicious Sabah coffee. I then hung out and talked to an English couple up there who has been touring SE Asia for the last few months. They are looking for TEFL teaching jobs though, so I told them I'd send them some info about teaching in Korea.
Anyway, I then have dinner up there and go to bed around 7pm. Yes, 7pm. It's already cloudy on the mountain and I realize I have to get up at 2am to start the hike to the top around 3am. So in the morning I trek down a bit to Laban Rata to have bfast and to meet bungin. We meet around 3 and start the hike up. Note...this hike up is in complete darkeness besides having a headlamp. So there is a line up the mountain of lights. It was quite amazing. There were probably a good 100 people hiking up that morning. Anyway, most people started at 2:30 in the morning. We started at 3, but began catching up to people, so like normal Bungin fasion, we passed them. The last 2km of the hike to the top are on pure granite. It was a clear morning so there wasn't any problem with weather. On the granite there is a rope that you can hold on to or follow. We just followed it as it's quicker that way. Parts of the trail in the morning were scary as it was complete darkness and you don't know how close you are to the edge. In reality we weren't too close, but we didn't know that. Stamina was key for this part as the last two km are killer as you just want to get to the top but don't know where it is. I swear my guide said 300 more meters and it turned out to be another km. Finally Bungin and I reach the peak in complete darkness and somehow we are the only ones up there. Did we pass everyone? Well, if nothing else, we were the only ones atop the 13,000+ ft peak. I got a few pictures and waited for the sunrise. Yes, I had to wait 45 minutes up there for it. We got to the top around 5am. It was cold though. I had my sweater on, a long sleeve shirt, my long john shirt, a beanie, and gloves and I was still cold.
It was soo worth it though when the sun came up. Everything came into light and it was mind blowing how beautiful everything was. Truly spectacular. Even at the top I couldn't help but thing how Amazing God is with creating things like he has. By the time the sun came up there were lots of other people up top with us.
So after about an hour and half up to Bungin and I take a few last pictures and then head back down the mountain. This part wasn't so bad. I get back to Gunting Lagadan and grab my bag and tell Bungin we'll do the last 6km down the mountain at 9. So at 9 we head back down. This part wasn't bad for the first 2km. Then the last 4km were killer. Going down so many steps kills your legs. And I was sweating and thought I'd get heat stroke or something. Luckily I didn't. But by the last km I just wanted to quit. But we kept pushing. We got down to the bottom by about 12:45 and the guy at the shuttle bus said we came down fast. Thanks Bungin :-D So I went back to the HQ and got a certificate that said I successfully climbed Mt. Kinabalu. After this I told myself I wouldn't do any more stairs or treks. You'll find out later that I lied.
So then I went to get a bus back to Kota Kinabalu and found one, then got back to the lodge sore and was welcomed by everyone at the lodge. Then in the evening I went with Najjif and Rahmat to the waterfront to see the sunset. It was a nice sunset. We also walked through the Philippino market to see crafts. Then after this we went to the fish market. Here there are tons of vendors grilling their fish. We find one vendor and we hit the jackpot. The fish here is sooooo cheap. We get a thing of tuna steak, some squid with squid roe in it, and stingray. Mmmm, it was so good. So we eat there, without silverwear which was great and talk to this couple that's sitting with us and he is a pilot for Malaysia Airlines. Nice couple. Then we went back to the Lodge and just chatted the rest of the night away which was great.
Also, I talked with Vincent about what to do the next day and he recommends the Rafflesia tour. It's one that he'll take us on and it's a cheap price. So Michelle and I end up telling him we'll go on it as the other two guys leave tomorrow.
More pictures below, now of the climb:
Mount Kinabalu Trip
Trip to Borneo, Day 1 + Day 2
Alright guys.....how do I do this? How do I describe such an amazing trip in just a few short pages? Well, I may not take a few short pages. It may be longer, but please understand this trip was incredible. It was more than I expected it to be and that is awesome because God is cool like that. He'll take stuff that we have expectations for and make them even greater. Now this won't always happen, but when it does, it's awesome. So please bear with me as I write out my thoughts and put down what all happened. It may be boring for some of you, and for that I'm sorry, but if you ever have the chance to go to Borneo. Do IT!
So, the trip there was smooth and it was fun. I got to spend the flight there with the missions team from our school that was going to the town of Tawau. It was neat to be on their flight and to experience a little bit of their excitement. I myself was going to the town of Kota Kinabalu which was the first stop for the plane. Kota Kinabalu is a town of 200,000 on the coast of Borneo, Malaysia. More specifically Sabah.
Sabah is a state on the island of Borneo and is comprised of many different ethnicities. Philippinos, Chinese, Korean, Malaysians, Thai, and Indians. Very cool mix indeed. What I didn't know until I found out later is that Christianity is pretty much the main religion in Sabah. I always thought it was Islam, but I was corrected by my hostel owner and some other people who said Islam comprises about 40% and Christianity is a bit more.
Anyway, that's the background for where I was. Also, Borneo is comprised mostly of virgin rainforest with much wildlife.
Now for a background of people I might name drop on here.
The first person I'll talk about a bit is Vincent. He was the hostel owner of the place I stayed at. A nice backbacker place. He is half Japanese, half Malaysian. He's a very nice guy. Anyway, my first impression of him was when he came to pick me up at the airport. We met and got in to the 4X4. He says that we have to go to pick up some other guys that are staying at the lodge and we have to pick them up from the jetty because they were at the islands. Anyway, on the way there, he is driving and drinking a tiger beer. Hmm, okay. Also, at the same time he is smoking and talking on the cell phone. Dear Lord, please keep me safe I think. haha, Praise God, I was safe. Anyway, he really is a great guy though. In fact, if you think about it, pray for him because he has a son who has Lukimia (sp) and is in the hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Anyway, the day before I left, he got a call that they needed him to donate his bone marrow for his son as he was the only match. So he was going to fly up there. Also, right now, money is tight for him as he said medications are really expensive for his son. So please pray for him.
Other guys I'll probably name drop are Rahmat and Najjif. They were the two guys we picked up. They were from singapore. They were 27 and 28 and on vacation in Borneo. Very nice guys and liked nature a lot and conservation. They were such a blessing to me though because they took me to places I probably wouldn't have gone to by myself, but they always invited me along which was nice. They also bought a lot of strange things for me to try. Oh yeah, these guys are huge fans of the Durian fruit. It's the smelliest fruit in the world and I don't think it tastes that great, but these guys love it and had me try some. For that, I'm grateful.
Finally, one other name I might drop is Michelle. She was a lady from England who had just gotten to Malaysia, but has been travelling for 2.5 years! She had a wealth of experence with travelling and had a million stories from other countries.
So the first day I got to the resort, I met these people, and then in the evening the guys from Singapore invited me to dinner with them. We went to a seafood area where all these vendors tried to get our business. So the one we finally decided served us some delicious stuff. We choose some Peanut Chicken, some fish (I don't remember what kind), some delicious veggies, and some fried squid. Mmm, it was soo delicious. Plus, I had fresh squeezed pineapple juice. I also got to try some chilies which were very hot!
After that, we went to the night market which was on one of the streets. The night market here had everything from Jewelry to fake Nike's, to crafts. There weren't a lot of vendors this night though because it was raining.
Then we decided to go to a coffeehouse near our hostel. It was Michelles recommendation. The place was good and I got some hot Milo. It's basically like Nestle Quick. They also served toast there that they toasted over charcoal and had coconut jam over it.
So that was the first day. Quite an eventful first day. Anyway, the next day in the morning, Rahmat, Najjib, and I went to the Gaya Street Sunday Market. This is a massive street market with hundreds of vendors selling everything from spices and food, to animals, to crafts. I was able to pick up some things. It was fun to be with the guys from singapore as they knew how to speak Malay and would ask the vendors what some of the stuff was. They also introduced me to some interesting Malaysian snacks. Mmmm....more food. Anyway, after the market we went up to Signal Hill. This is a place where you can get a good view of the city. Then we decided to go eat lunch.
We had lunch at an Arab restaurant. I had some rice and some other stuff, I can't even remember. It was spicy and very good. I felt a little out of place though at this restaurant as it wasn't touristy. Haha, I felt so white and it felt good to be out of place. It changed my perspective a bit. It's nice to not always be the majority, ya know? The food here was very cheap too, got it all for like less than $1.
After that we went back to the lodge to get ready for our trips. For me I was going to do the Mt. Kinabalu climb and the guys were going to do a Long House experience.
Below are pictures from Day 1 and half of Day 2.
Malaysia - Day 1 2
So, the trip there was smooth and it was fun. I got to spend the flight there with the missions team from our school that was going to the town of Tawau. It was neat to be on their flight and to experience a little bit of their excitement. I myself was going to the town of Kota Kinabalu which was the first stop for the plane. Kota Kinabalu is a town of 200,000 on the coast of Borneo, Malaysia. More specifically Sabah.
Sabah is a state on the island of Borneo and is comprised of many different ethnicities. Philippinos, Chinese, Korean, Malaysians, Thai, and Indians. Very cool mix indeed. What I didn't know until I found out later is that Christianity is pretty much the main religion in Sabah. I always thought it was Islam, but I was corrected by my hostel owner and some other people who said Islam comprises about 40% and Christianity is a bit more.
Anyway, that's the background for where I was. Also, Borneo is comprised mostly of virgin rainforest with much wildlife.
Now for a background of people I might name drop on here.
The first person I'll talk about a bit is Vincent. He was the hostel owner of the place I stayed at. A nice backbacker place. He is half Japanese, half Malaysian. He's a very nice guy. Anyway, my first impression of him was when he came to pick me up at the airport. We met and got in to the 4X4. He says that we have to go to pick up some other guys that are staying at the lodge and we have to pick them up from the jetty because they were at the islands. Anyway, on the way there, he is driving and drinking a tiger beer. Hmm, okay. Also, at the same time he is smoking and talking on the cell phone. Dear Lord, please keep me safe I think. haha, Praise God, I was safe. Anyway, he really is a great guy though. In fact, if you think about it, pray for him because he has a son who has Lukimia (sp) and is in the hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Anyway, the day before I left, he got a call that they needed him to donate his bone marrow for his son as he was the only match. So he was going to fly up there. Also, right now, money is tight for him as he said medications are really expensive for his son. So please pray for him.
Other guys I'll probably name drop are Rahmat and Najjif. They were the two guys we picked up. They were from singapore. They were 27 and 28 and on vacation in Borneo. Very nice guys and liked nature a lot and conservation. They were such a blessing to me though because they took me to places I probably wouldn't have gone to by myself, but they always invited me along which was nice. They also bought a lot of strange things for me to try. Oh yeah, these guys are huge fans of the Durian fruit. It's the smelliest fruit in the world and I don't think it tastes that great, but these guys love it and had me try some. For that, I'm grateful.
Finally, one other name I might drop is Michelle. She was a lady from England who had just gotten to Malaysia, but has been travelling for 2.5 years! She had a wealth of experence with travelling and had a million stories from other countries.
So the first day I got to the resort, I met these people, and then in the evening the guys from Singapore invited me to dinner with them. We went to a seafood area where all these vendors tried to get our business. So the one we finally decided served us some delicious stuff. We choose some Peanut Chicken, some fish (I don't remember what kind), some delicious veggies, and some fried squid. Mmm, it was soo delicious. Plus, I had fresh squeezed pineapple juice. I also got to try some chilies which were very hot!
After that, we went to the night market which was on one of the streets. The night market here had everything from Jewelry to fake Nike's, to crafts. There weren't a lot of vendors this night though because it was raining.
Then we decided to go to a coffeehouse near our hostel. It was Michelles recommendation. The place was good and I got some hot Milo. It's basically like Nestle Quick. They also served toast there that they toasted over charcoal and had coconut jam over it.
So that was the first day. Quite an eventful first day. Anyway, the next day in the morning, Rahmat, Najjib, and I went to the Gaya Street Sunday Market. This is a massive street market with hundreds of vendors selling everything from spices and food, to animals, to crafts. I was able to pick up some things. It was fun to be with the guys from singapore as they knew how to speak Malay and would ask the vendors what some of the stuff was. They also introduced me to some interesting Malaysian snacks. Mmmm....more food. Anyway, after the market we went up to Signal Hill. This is a place where you can get a good view of the city. Then we decided to go eat lunch.
We had lunch at an Arab restaurant. I had some rice and some other stuff, I can't even remember. It was spicy and very good. I felt a little out of place though at this restaurant as it wasn't touristy. Haha, I felt so white and it felt good to be out of place. It changed my perspective a bit. It's nice to not always be the majority, ya know? The food here was very cheap too, got it all for like less than $1.
After that we went back to the lodge to get ready for our trips. For me I was going to do the Mt. Kinabalu climb and the guys were going to do a Long House experience.
Below are pictures from Day 1 and half of Day 2.
Malaysia - Day 1 2
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Happy White Day
Happy White Day from the great country of South Korea. Yup, today is White day. It is the day where the guys give the girls something this time around. So any guy that received something for Valentines day is usually obliged or blessed to give the girl back something. So, I didn't really have anything to give anyway. Haha....although one of our guys did something special for his girlfriend. He had two lines of candles leading to his room (the tea type candles), and then in his room he had a big heart of red tea candles. Man, it was so classy....so he lead her to the heart. He said she almost cried. As for what other guys did...I'm not really sure.
Things here have been going pretty good....not too much going on, doing the same old same old with the dorm. I think guys are getting anxious for this quarter to end as it just seems that the stress has been a lot higher. Yeah, not much going on. Monday we did sound for chapels, which was fun. I was able to edit video for the chapel this week of clips of the kids being asked what they thought about truth and what is truth. It was intriguing to hear what these kids said. Some very relativistic answers and some very religious answers. Across the board. Also, for middle school chapel I got to play electric guitar for it. That was a lot of fun. Man, I love being able to praise God with the electric guitar!
Oh, this evening was fun as I had a game night/dinner at my apartment. Well, we were going to go out to eat, but then someone recommended Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup. So we quickly ran to the store and got some stuff to make it. Then we came back to my apartment and made grilled cheese and soup. It was quite good. Then played Uno and Dutch Blitz, quite fun, although my final score of 20 in dutch blitz wasn't exactly the best. So that was my White Day.
The rest of this week is chill as I only work tomorrow and then have Friday and Saturday off. Looking forward to that, and then one more week and I'm gone to Malaysia. Exciting stuff. Everyone is so shocked when they hear I'm going by myself. I think it'll be good. As much as I'd love to share it with someone (which I would've loved if someone could've gone), it'll be fun to climb a mountain and do some snorkeling while during that time also focusing on God and how to grow stronger in Him. I'll probably take along some books to read as I have some good reading right now. So yeah, please keep the dorms in prayer and the students. We can all use prayer and just pray for the kids in general as this quarter is finishing up and we are going into fourth quarter. Pray also for the seniors that they don't slack during this last quarter even though most have been accepted into American Universities already. Well, that is all. I'll leave you with some photos of the game night and my apartment painted. Blessings, Mike
In the photos, 1st one is of from L to R (Suzanne, Nikole, Amy)
Things here have been going pretty good....not too much going on, doing the same old same old with the dorm. I think guys are getting anxious for this quarter to end as it just seems that the stress has been a lot higher. Yeah, not much going on. Monday we did sound for chapels, which was fun. I was able to edit video for the chapel this week of clips of the kids being asked what they thought about truth and what is truth. It was intriguing to hear what these kids said. Some very relativistic answers and some very religious answers. Across the board. Also, for middle school chapel I got to play electric guitar for it. That was a lot of fun. Man, I love being able to praise God with the electric guitar!
Oh, this evening was fun as I had a game night/dinner at my apartment. Well, we were going to go out to eat, but then someone recommended Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup. So we quickly ran to the store and got some stuff to make it. Then we came back to my apartment and made grilled cheese and soup. It was quite good. Then played Uno and Dutch Blitz, quite fun, although my final score of 20 in dutch blitz wasn't exactly the best. So that was my White Day.
The rest of this week is chill as I only work tomorrow and then have Friday and Saturday off. Looking forward to that, and then one more week and I'm gone to Malaysia. Exciting stuff. Everyone is so shocked when they hear I'm going by myself. I think it'll be good. As much as I'd love to share it with someone (which I would've loved if someone could've gone), it'll be fun to climb a mountain and do some snorkeling while during that time also focusing on God and how to grow stronger in Him. I'll probably take along some books to read as I have some good reading right now. So yeah, please keep the dorms in prayer and the students. We can all use prayer and just pray for the kids in general as this quarter is finishing up and we are going into fourth quarter. Pray also for the seniors that they don't slack during this last quarter even though most have been accepted into American Universities already. Well, that is all. I'll leave you with some photos of the game night and my apartment painted. Blessings, Mike
In the photos, 1st one is of from L to R (Suzanne, Nikole, Amy)
Sunday, March 11, 2007
2 Months
Wow, so I've now been here 2 months and man has time flown. I mean it's already been a week since I've last posted and so much has happened in between there. Where should I start?
Well, on Monday for chapel practice I found out that I would be able to partcipate on the worship team this week for chapel. So that made me very excited to be able to play my guitar for worship again. So on tuesday I played my electric guitar for the first High School chapen, and then did acoustic and vocals for the 2nd High School chapel and the Middle School Chapel. It was so much fun.
Also, this week, it's been freezing and cold and we saw some snow as well. Figure that one out. So yeah, I want warm weather now that it is March. But hey, in two weeks I don't need to worry about it as i'll be in Malaysia sweating my butt off.
This week was a little rough in the dorm. Things are changing around here and we are starting to lay down the law a little more than we had. If you can pray for the dorm and just for us as a staff to still Love on the guys and yet crack down a little bit more that would be great.
Wednesday was my day off again, and so I went out to eat at that Duk-Bol-Ki place again and then went and hung out at Paris Baguette for a bit. It was a fun day off again. Gotta luv um.
Ugh...Friday. Friday was my most challenging day here in Korea so far. Let me explain. First off, I tried to cram way too much into my day to be able to acomplish it all. So in the morning I had to set up for the Middle School Spelling Bee. Like setting up sound and stuff. So I set that up and then make sure the sound sounds good during the spelling bee, I go to lunch, come back, and then ask if it's okay for me to leave to go do some stuff at the bank. At the bank I wanted to sign up for internet banking and transfer some money to a hotel I'll be staying at in Malaysia.
So I get to the bank and the point for me to go upstairs to do this. So I tell the lady that I want to sign up for internet banking. I do this in English and she understands a little. Anyway, she has me fill out this form. So she's trying to tell me what each part is because the form is in Korean and for some of the stuff she doesn't know what it is, so she starts to get frustrated because she has to ask the lady beside her. Anyway, I finally fill out the form. Then she takes me to their site on her computer to show me how to register now. The registration process is crazy. You have to fill out all these forms and stuff online. So by this point she becomes even more frustrated. Because she can't explain it to me in English. So a guy comes in (a guy who wanted to do some banking like me, but he's Korean), and she asks him if he knows English. He says a little, and then she talks to him in Korean for like a minute. Then he turns to me and explains a little bit of the form in broken English. Seeing that I don't understand, the bank teller then calls the school and tells the office secretary that I'm there and that I signed up for internet banking and for her to explain the online process for doing internet banking. Phew. So then I try to do my money transfer. I fill out the form, do everything I need to do on my end, and then when she types in Malaysia, she says I can't send money there and that's because there is an Embargo. An Embargo?! I doubt that, but maybe there is. Or maybe she didn't want to deal with me anymore...which I can understand. So best part....
The guy who knew a little English then asks if I'm a Hagwon at Hannam University. That means english teacher. And this bank is very close to Hannam. So I tell him no and that I'm a RA at TCIS. He says, okay, how long have you been here in Korea. I tell him 2 months. He then says "Oh, that's why you don't know a lot of Korean." Then he said "This here, doesn't happen a lot." As in Americans coming into the bank by themselves trying to do banking without knowing Korean. So then I say thank you and sorry to him and the bank lady, and then tell them the next time I stop by I will know more Korean.
So, I need to learn some more Korean for sure.
Then this weekend, didn't really do too much. Watched some soccer games in which our teams dominated the field....sweet. Then on Saturday night I went out to Bennigans and had an awesome sandwhich, went to the Norebong (Karaoke), and watched the latest American Idol. So it's been a good weekend. Today was pretty chill.
Now it's on to another week. Oh, today I painted the rest of my apartment. I'll try to get some photos up of it really soon. I wanted it to be a Deep Red and Grey, but instead the gave me a skyish blue...instead of Grey. The deep red is sweet, but the sky blue is going to have to grow on me. Also, I've been working on some video stuff for the school for Chapel this week. It's clips of the kids here being asked "what is truth", "what is important to you", and "is truth important to you?" Their responses are interesting. Some very post-modern, some very religious responses. Quite a mix. Anyway, chapel this week should be interesting.
Wow, so this post is long. Sorry, I should update more than just once a week.
Keep in touch,
Blessings,
Mike
Well, on Monday for chapel practice I found out that I would be able to partcipate on the worship team this week for chapel. So that made me very excited to be able to play my guitar for worship again. So on tuesday I played my electric guitar for the first High School chapen, and then did acoustic and vocals for the 2nd High School chapel and the Middle School Chapel. It was so much fun.
Also, this week, it's been freezing and cold and we saw some snow as well. Figure that one out. So yeah, I want warm weather now that it is March. But hey, in two weeks I don't need to worry about it as i'll be in Malaysia sweating my butt off.
This week was a little rough in the dorm. Things are changing around here and we are starting to lay down the law a little more than we had. If you can pray for the dorm and just for us as a staff to still Love on the guys and yet crack down a little bit more that would be great.
Wednesday was my day off again, and so I went out to eat at that Duk-Bol-Ki place again and then went and hung out at Paris Baguette for a bit. It was a fun day off again. Gotta luv um.
Ugh...Friday. Friday was my most challenging day here in Korea so far. Let me explain. First off, I tried to cram way too much into my day to be able to acomplish it all. So in the morning I had to set up for the Middle School Spelling Bee. Like setting up sound and stuff. So I set that up and then make sure the sound sounds good during the spelling bee, I go to lunch, come back, and then ask if it's okay for me to leave to go do some stuff at the bank. At the bank I wanted to sign up for internet banking and transfer some money to a hotel I'll be staying at in Malaysia.
So I get to the bank and the point for me to go upstairs to do this. So I tell the lady that I want to sign up for internet banking. I do this in English and she understands a little. Anyway, she has me fill out this form. So she's trying to tell me what each part is because the form is in Korean and for some of the stuff she doesn't know what it is, so she starts to get frustrated because she has to ask the lady beside her. Anyway, I finally fill out the form. Then she takes me to their site on her computer to show me how to register now. The registration process is crazy. You have to fill out all these forms and stuff online. So by this point she becomes even more frustrated. Because she can't explain it to me in English. So a guy comes in (a guy who wanted to do some banking like me, but he's Korean), and she asks him if he knows English. He says a little, and then she talks to him in Korean for like a minute. Then he turns to me and explains a little bit of the form in broken English. Seeing that I don't understand, the bank teller then calls the school and tells the office secretary that I'm there and that I signed up for internet banking and for her to explain the online process for doing internet banking. Phew. So then I try to do my money transfer. I fill out the form, do everything I need to do on my end, and then when she types in Malaysia, she says I can't send money there and that's because there is an Embargo. An Embargo?! I doubt that, but maybe there is. Or maybe she didn't want to deal with me anymore...which I can understand. So best part....
The guy who knew a little English then asks if I'm a Hagwon at Hannam University. That means english teacher. And this bank is very close to Hannam. So I tell him no and that I'm a RA at TCIS. He says, okay, how long have you been here in Korea. I tell him 2 months. He then says "Oh, that's why you don't know a lot of Korean." Then he said "This here, doesn't happen a lot." As in Americans coming into the bank by themselves trying to do banking without knowing Korean. So then I say thank you and sorry to him and the bank lady, and then tell them the next time I stop by I will know more Korean.
So, I need to learn some more Korean for sure.
Then this weekend, didn't really do too much. Watched some soccer games in which our teams dominated the field....sweet. Then on Saturday night I went out to Bennigans and had an awesome sandwhich, went to the Norebong (Karaoke), and watched the latest American Idol. So it's been a good weekend. Today was pretty chill.
Now it's on to another week. Oh, today I painted the rest of my apartment. I'll try to get some photos up of it really soon. I wanted it to be a Deep Red and Grey, but instead the gave me a skyish blue...instead of Grey. The deep red is sweet, but the sky blue is going to have to grow on me. Also, I've been working on some video stuff for the school for Chapel this week. It's clips of the kids here being asked "what is truth", "what is important to you", and "is truth important to you?" Their responses are interesting. Some very post-modern, some very religious responses. Quite a mix. Anyway, chapel this week should be interesting.
Wow, so this post is long. Sorry, I should update more than just once a week.
Keep in touch,
Blessings,
Mike
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Forgot
I forgot, yesterday was a lot of fun. I went out to eat with Nikole, Craig, and Laura. We were celebrating Nikole's bday. Anyway, we went to eat at this place called Chin Chins. At least that's how it's pronounced. So I had some delicious pasta there. Oh, I forgot, on our way there we saw this homeless lady, or just a lady begging and so we stopped to talk to her. Well, I didn't talk, but Nikole and Craig did. We asked her to come to lunch with us, but she refused and pointed to her ankle and said she couldn't walk there. We really wanted to take her to lunch and treat her to a meal. But she didn't, so this disappointed us a bit. Anyway, after lunch we walked around, went to a couple stores, Nikole got her ear pierced (fun experience to be there for that)...and then we stopped and got bread and a meal to go, so that we could give it to the lady we met. Anyway, we walked back and the lady wasn't there.
So we walked around, trying to find homeless to give the bread too. So, after not too long we find a man lying on the ground and we offer him the bread. He says he doesn't want it. But we leave it there beside him anyway. As we walk away, he throws it at us, but we keep walking and hoped that he would eat it anyway.
So yeah, it's tought being an "ordinary radical" here in Korea. But we are trying and that's what matters.
The phrase "ordinary radical" comes from Shane Claibornes book "Irrisistible Revolution." If you haven't read it, I encourage you to read it.
Anyway, after all this we went back to Nikole's and baked a cake and made some awesome icing (okay the icing didn't turn out right, but was still good), and then I went back to work.
Well, just wanted to give you a story of life here in Daejeon. Hoping to find more opportnities to be an "ordinary radical" here. The sermon today was really encouraging as it was from Acts 3 and the healing of the man who couldn't walk.
Which makes me think, why can't we just tell people who are begging and can't walk to just get up in the name of Jesus Christ and walk? We have the power to do this and more. Why don't we use it? What makes us so scared to believe that God can actually heal?
These are just questions going through my head. I wish I knew these answers.
Blessings,
Mike
So we walked around, trying to find homeless to give the bread too. So, after not too long we find a man lying on the ground and we offer him the bread. He says he doesn't want it. But we leave it there beside him anyway. As we walk away, he throws it at us, but we keep walking and hoped that he would eat it anyway.
So yeah, it's tought being an "ordinary radical" here in Korea. But we are trying and that's what matters.
The phrase "ordinary radical" comes from Shane Claibornes book "Irrisistible Revolution." If you haven't read it, I encourage you to read it.
Anyway, after all this we went back to Nikole's and baked a cake and made some awesome icing (okay the icing didn't turn out right, but was still good), and then I went back to work.
Well, just wanted to give you a story of life here in Daejeon. Hoping to find more opportnities to be an "ordinary radical" here. The sermon today was really encouraging as it was from Acts 3 and the healing of the man who couldn't walk.
Which makes me think, why can't we just tell people who are begging and can't walk to just get up in the name of Jesus Christ and walk? We have the power to do this and more. Why don't we use it? What makes us so scared to believe that God can actually heal?
These are just questions going through my head. I wish I knew these answers.
Blessings,
Mike
More About Korea
Well,
It's been a while since I posted, so I'm sorry for that, but it's actually been fairly uneventful since I got back from Japan. I have been to some awesome restaurants though. But what's new.
Let's see, as for restaurants, I went to this awesome pork bbq place with some friends, and mmmm, it was so good. And also, the one night I went to this Morroccan/Indian place and had chicken Tandorri, and some thing that had ricepaper/egg/tuna/spice. It sounds weird, but it was really good.
As for other stuff I've done, I have painted my apartment and now it definately feels like home. I'll have to post some pictures soon of it, but it looks a lot better I think. What color did I paint it? Well, you'll just have to wait.
So yeah, these weeks are flying by. In like 3 weeks it will be spring break and I'll most likely be traveling by myself to Borneo, Malaysia. I'm excited as I'll be climbing a 13,000 ft mountain and do some snorkeling. It's an amazing area.
Anyway, now for things Korean.
Did you know....? Korea used to spelled Corea! But when Japan invaded, they wouldn't let Corea keep the C, so they changed it to K because K comes after J in the alphabet. As in the J in Japan.
Well, yeah, there is tons of history stuff here. So next time I'll post another. Anyway, know that I care deeply about all of you that read this and thank you for reading it.
Weather here is getting better. Today it is like 60 something, but tomorrow goes back into the 30's. So yeah, it changes a lot.
Blessings,
Mike
It's been a while since I posted, so I'm sorry for that, but it's actually been fairly uneventful since I got back from Japan. I have been to some awesome restaurants though. But what's new.
Let's see, as for restaurants, I went to this awesome pork bbq place with some friends, and mmmm, it was so good. And also, the one night I went to this Morroccan/Indian place and had chicken Tandorri, and some thing that had ricepaper/egg/tuna/spice. It sounds weird, but it was really good.
As for other stuff I've done, I have painted my apartment and now it definately feels like home. I'll have to post some pictures soon of it, but it looks a lot better I think. What color did I paint it? Well, you'll just have to wait.
So yeah, these weeks are flying by. In like 3 weeks it will be spring break and I'll most likely be traveling by myself to Borneo, Malaysia. I'm excited as I'll be climbing a 13,000 ft mountain and do some snorkeling. It's an amazing area.
Anyway, now for things Korean.
Did you know....? Korea used to spelled Corea! But when Japan invaded, they wouldn't let Corea keep the C, so they changed it to K because K comes after J in the alphabet. As in the J in Japan.
Well, yeah, there is tons of history stuff here. So next time I'll post another. Anyway, know that I care deeply about all of you that read this and thank you for reading it.
Weather here is getting better. Today it is like 60 something, but tomorrow goes back into the 30's. So yeah, it changes a lot.
Blessings,
Mike
Friday, February 23, 2007
Videos
Below is one video out of like 5 that I took of the scenery and stuff. If you click on the link below this video you can see the rest of the videos that I took. They are pretty sweet, so check them out! This just shows you a slideshow of the videos...you can see them individually by clicking on the link that says Japan Videos.
Japan Videos
Japan Videos
Japan-Day 4
Alright, so not much with this day except that it involved way to much travel. In the morning I get up at 6 to get a taxi to the bus station in Hakuba. I then take the bus to Tokyo. This is a four hour trip. Then I go and eat at a place in Shinjuku. After that I go to the Korean Consulate to pick up my visa. I can't pick it up till 1:30....so I wait about 45 minutes in the consulate. I then pick it up and head to TCAT to get a bus to the Tokyo airport. I try taking the subway, but can't find my way to TCAT very easily, so I get off at the one station and decide to take a taxi there. Good move as it was already about 2:15 and my plane leaves for Seoul at 5. So I get to TCAT and get a bus to the airport at 2:30. I then get to the airport after an hour long bus ride and find that the plane has been delayed for an hour. So now it doesn't leave till 6. So I get some dinner at McDonalds....mmmmm. Then I take the plane ride for 2 hours.
When I get to Seoul we wait on the tarmac for about 15 minutes as all the gates are full. I then get out, go through customs and stuff and then buy a bus ticket for Daejeon. The bus leaves at 9:30....so I wait for another half hour. Then finally this bus comes and I take the 2.5 hour bus to Daejeon. Then once in Daejeon I took a taxi to the school and it was nice to be home again.
This trip was seriously an amazing one and want to go back there to ski sometime again and to explore more of tokyo as I feel I only explored an inch of what could be miles of exploration.
Thanks for reading all these and blessings!
Mike
When I get to Seoul we wait on the tarmac for about 15 minutes as all the gates are full. I then get out, go through customs and stuff and then buy a bus ticket for Daejeon. The bus leaves at 9:30....so I wait for another half hour. Then finally this bus comes and I take the 2.5 hour bus to Daejeon. Then once in Daejeon I took a taxi to the school and it was nice to be home again.
This trip was seriously an amazing one and want to go back there to ski sometime again and to explore more of tokyo as I feel I only explored an inch of what could be miles of exploration.
Thanks for reading all these and blessings!
Mike
Japan-Day 3
Let's call this day the day of many many blessings.
Alright, so I get up in the morning and find out that I can get a lift ticket for Happo One (the main ski resort in Hakuba) for only 2000 Yen. This is about $15. I managed to get it from the owners wife of the lodge I was staying at. She got the deal because someone had a season pass and wasn't going to use it today. What a blessing. So then the one guy I met from Australia and I go to the resort. He helps me get my rentals and then we take a lift up to a place on the mountain where we can get bfast. So we get bfast (which was really good) and sit and chat there for a while, waiting for the snow to get soft as right now it was icy. So we wait and then decide to ski down to the Gondola. Anyway, skiing down to the gondola was tough as my skiis that I received were too long, so I fell on the way down and decided I had to go get shorter skiis.
So, I went and got shorter skiis. Then I went to the Gondola and met a couple from New Zealand. They just moved there 2 years ago and were from Singapore. They were a very friendly couple. From there I did my first main run and it was awesome. It was a long long run and it was a lot easier with my shorter skiis. Then from the bottom I went to the top of the mountain through taking 3 lifts up to the top. The view from the top was absolutely incredible. Words can't describe it and my pictures certainly don't do it justice. But there is a reason they are called the Japan Alps. The mountains around here shoot up to about 9000 ft and where we were was at about 6000 ft at the top of the ski lifts. So from here I did some more runs before lunch. So I'm starting to get sore, so I decide I'll do some lunch somewhere. So I go down the mountain and start walking to this one restaurant. So I feel for my wallet and it isn't there!! I start to worry and notice that a hole was ripped in the pocket and my wallet must have fallen out about 3 hours earlier when I fell that one time. I started to think about how I could possibly find it. It had all my money, cards, etc. in it. Not all the money, but a lot. So I think man, it could be burried under snow, someone could've taken it, anything. So, I check with the ticket counter at the resort and ask if they have a lost and found. The lady then asks, "what's your name?" I tell her "Mike" and she then hands me my wallet with everything in it and said a man dropped it off. Wow, what a blessing. This is blessing #2 of the day.
Then I ski for a little longer and then decide to go up to the restaurant I had bfast at and get a cup of coffee. So I have my coffee and then one of the guys that works there comes by and gives me a free cup of green tea. Mmmm, it was so good. Then I skiied down my last run and head for the shuttle bus.
Now, I remembered which shuttle bus we took, but couldn't quite remember at this point. So I get in the one shuttle bus and ask the guy beside me if this is the one and find out he is staying at the same lodge I am. So we took that shuttle bus back and chatted. I concider this blessing #3 as I don't know if I would've felt confident by myself to get back to the lodge where we were staying. So we get back to the lodge, I get a shower, and then this guy who I made friends with on the shuttle bus decide to go find somewhere to eat. The night before we heard about this place called the White Horse which serves really good food. So we go there. To give a background on this guy, he is in his late 30's early 40's, has a wife and kids back in Perth Australia, and is a Christian. So we go to this place and I get a cappuchino and he orders some New Zealand wine. We then get pizza and after that dessert. So I'm ready to pay for my meal and he says "I'll cover it." What??! This is like a $55 meal. But he covers it. This is blessing #4 of the day. Also, through conversation he invites me to come stay in Perth whenever I want and can use a car there and so forth. Wow, a free place to stay in Perth.
So needless to say it was hard for me to accept so much hospitality. We chatted about the church and similarities of Japan to Australia in spirituality and so much more. Really cool to have someone to talk to about that stuff. So then I get back to the lodge and just hang out there for a little longer before going to bed.
Oh yeah, there was another guy from the lodge I met, the one I went to bfast with that offered for me to stay in Sydney as well. He owns a house on the beach and said that if I want to surf or whatever to come stay there as well. So, I think I need to go to Australia soon.
So that was my skiing day. What an incredible day it was. Below are some pictures from the mountain. As the other posts, click on the picture for the full gallery of them.
Also, this post isn't to brag about the blessings, but that it is to point out that not all blessings from God are obvious. Look for them, because they are definately out there. God cares for us and looks out for us, it's just not always obvious.
Alright, the photos below are in a slideshow format. If you want to see them individually, click on the link at the bottom that says "Skiing in Hakuba, Japan."
Skiing in Hakuba, Japan
Alright, so I get up in the morning and find out that I can get a lift ticket for Happo One (the main ski resort in Hakuba) for only 2000 Yen. This is about $15. I managed to get it from the owners wife of the lodge I was staying at. She got the deal because someone had a season pass and wasn't going to use it today. What a blessing. So then the one guy I met from Australia and I go to the resort. He helps me get my rentals and then we take a lift up to a place on the mountain where we can get bfast. So we get bfast (which was really good) and sit and chat there for a while, waiting for the snow to get soft as right now it was icy. So we wait and then decide to ski down to the Gondola. Anyway, skiing down to the gondola was tough as my skiis that I received were too long, so I fell on the way down and decided I had to go get shorter skiis.
So, I went and got shorter skiis. Then I went to the Gondola and met a couple from New Zealand. They just moved there 2 years ago and were from Singapore. They were a very friendly couple. From there I did my first main run and it was awesome. It was a long long run and it was a lot easier with my shorter skiis. Then from the bottom I went to the top of the mountain through taking 3 lifts up to the top. The view from the top was absolutely incredible. Words can't describe it and my pictures certainly don't do it justice. But there is a reason they are called the Japan Alps. The mountains around here shoot up to about 9000 ft and where we were was at about 6000 ft at the top of the ski lifts. So from here I did some more runs before lunch. So I'm starting to get sore, so I decide I'll do some lunch somewhere. So I go down the mountain and start walking to this one restaurant. So I feel for my wallet and it isn't there!! I start to worry and notice that a hole was ripped in the pocket and my wallet must have fallen out about 3 hours earlier when I fell that one time. I started to think about how I could possibly find it. It had all my money, cards, etc. in it. Not all the money, but a lot. So I think man, it could be burried under snow, someone could've taken it, anything. So, I check with the ticket counter at the resort and ask if they have a lost and found. The lady then asks, "what's your name?" I tell her "Mike" and she then hands me my wallet with everything in it and said a man dropped it off. Wow, what a blessing. This is blessing #2 of the day.
Then I ski for a little longer and then decide to go up to the restaurant I had bfast at and get a cup of coffee. So I have my coffee and then one of the guys that works there comes by and gives me a free cup of green tea. Mmmm, it was so good. Then I skiied down my last run and head for the shuttle bus.
Now, I remembered which shuttle bus we took, but couldn't quite remember at this point. So I get in the one shuttle bus and ask the guy beside me if this is the one and find out he is staying at the same lodge I am. So we took that shuttle bus back and chatted. I concider this blessing #3 as I don't know if I would've felt confident by myself to get back to the lodge where we were staying. So we get back to the lodge, I get a shower, and then this guy who I made friends with on the shuttle bus decide to go find somewhere to eat. The night before we heard about this place called the White Horse which serves really good food. So we go there. To give a background on this guy, he is in his late 30's early 40's, has a wife and kids back in Perth Australia, and is a Christian. So we go to this place and I get a cappuchino and he orders some New Zealand wine. We then get pizza and after that dessert. So I'm ready to pay for my meal and he says "I'll cover it." What??! This is like a $55 meal. But he covers it. This is blessing #4 of the day. Also, through conversation he invites me to come stay in Perth whenever I want and can use a car there and so forth. Wow, a free place to stay in Perth.
So needless to say it was hard for me to accept so much hospitality. We chatted about the church and similarities of Japan to Australia in spirituality and so much more. Really cool to have someone to talk to about that stuff. So then I get back to the lodge and just hang out there for a little longer before going to bed.
Oh yeah, there was another guy from the lodge I met, the one I went to bfast with that offered for me to stay in Sydney as well. He owns a house on the beach and said that if I want to surf or whatever to come stay there as well. So, I think I need to go to Australia soon.
So that was my skiing day. What an incredible day it was. Below are some pictures from the mountain. As the other posts, click on the picture for the full gallery of them.
Also, this post isn't to brag about the blessings, but that it is to point out that not all blessings from God are obvious. Look for them, because they are definately out there. God cares for us and looks out for us, it's just not always obvious.
Alright, the photos below are in a slideshow format. If you want to see them individually, click on the link at the bottom that says "Skiing in Hakuba, Japan."
Skiing in Hakuba, Japan
Japan-Day2
Alright, so day 2. I got up and went downstairs to have bfast. Hmm, bfast in Japan is a lot different than the states. Haha. The only thing I recognized for bfast was eggs. The other stuff they had there was like noodles, salmon, and other miscellaneous stuff like that. So I had bfast and decide to head to the Korean Consulate, because my main reason for this trip is to get my Visa. So I get to the consolate and hand them the papers and they tell me I have to fill out another application. But....what???? I have an application here in my hand and sure it's a copy, but why do I have to fill out another one? So I ask this to three people, but they all insist that I need to fill out another application. So, I did, and handed it in. They take it and I pay my $45 for the visa. They then say that I have to come back on the 23rd and pick it up at 1:30pm.
Alright, so that's done. I then go down to Shinjuku station again on the subway and go to the bus terminal to buy a ticket to Hakuba up in Nagano. They tell me the next bus is for 3:30 in the afternoon. Alright, that's cool, so I ask if there is anything earlier and to no avail there isn't. I don't think they understood me (which there was a lot of this on this trip). So I have like 4 hours to kill. What to do? So, I remembered in my hotel they said that Tokyo Tower is something neat to see. It's like the eiffel tower in form, but taller (actually the tallest of it's kind). So I find how to get there on subway and go. I get there, pay the admission fee and go up the elevator to 150 meters. I get off and see the view. Wow, what a view of the city. I saw the city last night but not in the daytime. It's a huge city as you can see in the pictures below. Then I take another elevator up to a special observation deck at 250 meters. From here, just about everything is visible. It's amazing. Then I decide to explore more around the tower and find a gift shop area and get some japanese looking things for my apartment.
After this, I decided to go back to Shinjuku station and have some lunch. At places in japan they have machines where they have pictures of all their meals and you put in your money and it prints out a ticket and then you give the ticket to them and they give you your meal. So I did this at the one place and had a good meal.
Then I went to the bus terminal and waited for an hour for my bus to leave. I then get on the bus and start my trip up to Hakuba. The bus was quite comfortable and stopped at two rest stops on the way. The trip up there was beautiful and the mountains start about 45 minutes out of the city. It got dark half way through the trip though so I had no idea what kind of mountains I would find in Hakuba. There was snow on the ground though when we got closer to Hakuba and this got me excited.
So, I was on the bus, but I had no idea how to get to the place I was staying once I got there. That's fine, I thought. I can find it myself. So the bus stops, and I get out and start looking around. I have no idea where to start. So then this guy comes up to me and it like "Hey, where are you staying?". I'm like Hakuba Powder Lodging. He says "there is no way you are walking there yourself, I just called a taxi, you can come with me." So I'm like "sure, thanks." We get in the taxi and he tells me he is part owner of the place Snow Beds and that he knows the owner of the place that I'm staying at. So the taxi drops me off, and he pays for the taxi. This was an amazing blessing from God. Because there is no way I would've found this place. So I go inside my place and there are a bunch of people there already. It's a backpacker Hostel pretty much.
So, I check in and meet some of the people. There were people there from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Finland. Most of them had been there for at least a week and the one guy in my room had been there for 2 months already. Nice people. That evening it was fun talking to them and the one guy there from Japan came to this place because he wants to learn english. So we talked some english with him. He was good for only have studied it for a month. Also, from the stories, some of these guys were true skiing pros. They were talking about hiking up to the tops of these mountains and making their own runs.
Anyway, that was the end of day 2. Tomorrow I would go skiing and that had me excited. Pictures below. It's a slideshow. If you want to see them individually, click on the link at the bottom of the slideshow.
Tokyo from Tokyo Tower
Alright, so that's done. I then go down to Shinjuku station again on the subway and go to the bus terminal to buy a ticket to Hakuba up in Nagano. They tell me the next bus is for 3:30 in the afternoon. Alright, that's cool, so I ask if there is anything earlier and to no avail there isn't. I don't think they understood me (which there was a lot of this on this trip). So I have like 4 hours to kill. What to do? So, I remembered in my hotel they said that Tokyo Tower is something neat to see. It's like the eiffel tower in form, but taller (actually the tallest of it's kind). So I find how to get there on subway and go. I get there, pay the admission fee and go up the elevator to 150 meters. I get off and see the view. Wow, what a view of the city. I saw the city last night but not in the daytime. It's a huge city as you can see in the pictures below. Then I take another elevator up to a special observation deck at 250 meters. From here, just about everything is visible. It's amazing. Then I decide to explore more around the tower and find a gift shop area and get some japanese looking things for my apartment.
After this, I decided to go back to Shinjuku station and have some lunch. At places in japan they have machines where they have pictures of all their meals and you put in your money and it prints out a ticket and then you give the ticket to them and they give you your meal. So I did this at the one place and had a good meal.
Then I went to the bus terminal and waited for an hour for my bus to leave. I then get on the bus and start my trip up to Hakuba. The bus was quite comfortable and stopped at two rest stops on the way. The trip up there was beautiful and the mountains start about 45 minutes out of the city. It got dark half way through the trip though so I had no idea what kind of mountains I would find in Hakuba. There was snow on the ground though when we got closer to Hakuba and this got me excited.
So, I was on the bus, but I had no idea how to get to the place I was staying once I got there. That's fine, I thought. I can find it myself. So the bus stops, and I get out and start looking around. I have no idea where to start. So then this guy comes up to me and it like "Hey, where are you staying?". I'm like Hakuba Powder Lodging. He says "there is no way you are walking there yourself, I just called a taxi, you can come with me." So I'm like "sure, thanks." We get in the taxi and he tells me he is part owner of the place Snow Beds and that he knows the owner of the place that I'm staying at. So the taxi drops me off, and he pays for the taxi. This was an amazing blessing from God. Because there is no way I would've found this place. So I go inside my place and there are a bunch of people there already. It's a backpacker Hostel pretty much.
So, I check in and meet some of the people. There were people there from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Finland. Most of them had been there for at least a week and the one guy in my room had been there for 2 months already. Nice people. That evening it was fun talking to them and the one guy there from Japan came to this place because he wants to learn english. So we talked some english with him. He was good for only have studied it for a month. Also, from the stories, some of these guys were true skiing pros. They were talking about hiking up to the tops of these mountains and making their own runs.
Anyway, that was the end of day 2. Tomorrow I would go skiing and that had me excited. Pictures below. It's a slideshow. If you want to see them individually, click on the link at the bottom of the slideshow.
Tokyo from Tokyo Tower
Japan-Day 1
Alright, so here it goes. I'm going to try to give you an outline of my trip to Japan. Which this could end up being very long, so please brace yourselves. This trip was incredible and I want to share all the cool things God did and also just to try to show how Japan is pretty awesome.
So, alright, on Tuesday I left for Japan. Got on the plane and got to Tokyo. I exchanged my money and hopped on the Limosine bus for Tokyo. It took me about an hour but it was a very comfortable ride for about $20. This isn't bad as it would cost $200 to take a taxi to Tokyo. So then the limo bus takes us to TCAT (tokyo central airport terminal). Then I take a taxi to my hotel. I check in and look at my room. My room isn't more than 10 ft across but it has everything I need in a small amount of space. See, space in Tokyo is running out so they have to find interesting ways to put things in small space. You can see some of the room pictures below.
So I'm in my hotel, and I get bored, so I decide to explore some of Tokyo. Here is where the fun starts. I go down to the desk and ask how to get to Shinjuku. He gives me a subway map, gives me some pointers on it in broken english. So I go, and get to the subway station and stare at the map in front of me and the ticket machines and sit in shock for about 7 minutes about how to use it. But then I learn from seeing other people and put my money in the machine and make it to Shinjuku.
Shinjuku station is a subway/train station that sees about 3.5 million people a day. When I was there it was crowded but not too bad. So by this time I'm hungry so I stop at one of the many restaurants at shinjuku station and have a nice $8 meal. Yes, stuff isn't very cheap here. The meal was good though. I was surrounded by all these people in suits though and was by myself and felt out of place.
So after my meal I decide to try to find the Metropolitan Government buildings where you can get a sweet view of the city. So I ask around and most people don't understand where I want to go. So then as I'm walking a see a bus stop that says Tokyo Government Metropolitan Building. I see a guy there and ask him if this bus will take me there. He then points straight ahead and says I can walk there (again in broken english). So I walk there and find the building and go up to the 45th floor where they have an observatory. I stay up there for about an hour. It's amazing beyond belief. The view at night of Tokyo is something else. It's so huge and vast and there is city for miles and miles.
After seeing that I decided to head back to the hotel and crash for the night. You can see in the one photo below that the hotel provided me with a kimono (I think that's what it is).
Anyway, this was just Day 1. Some of the photos are below. If you click on the photos below, you can go to a photo album to see the rest of the photos.
Random Japan Photos
So, alright, on Tuesday I left for Japan. Got on the plane and got to Tokyo. I exchanged my money and hopped on the Limosine bus for Tokyo. It took me about an hour but it was a very comfortable ride for about $20. This isn't bad as it would cost $200 to take a taxi to Tokyo. So then the limo bus takes us to TCAT (tokyo central airport terminal). Then I take a taxi to my hotel. I check in and look at my room. My room isn't more than 10 ft across but it has everything I need in a small amount of space. See, space in Tokyo is running out so they have to find interesting ways to put things in small space. You can see some of the room pictures below.
So I'm in my hotel, and I get bored, so I decide to explore some of Tokyo. Here is where the fun starts. I go down to the desk and ask how to get to Shinjuku. He gives me a subway map, gives me some pointers on it in broken english. So I go, and get to the subway station and stare at the map in front of me and the ticket machines and sit in shock for about 7 minutes about how to use it. But then I learn from seeing other people and put my money in the machine and make it to Shinjuku.
Shinjuku station is a subway/train station that sees about 3.5 million people a day. When I was there it was crowded but not too bad. So by this time I'm hungry so I stop at one of the many restaurants at shinjuku station and have a nice $8 meal. Yes, stuff isn't very cheap here. The meal was good though. I was surrounded by all these people in suits though and was by myself and felt out of place.
So after my meal I decide to try to find the Metropolitan Government buildings where you can get a sweet view of the city. So I ask around and most people don't understand where I want to go. So then as I'm walking a see a bus stop that says Tokyo Government Metropolitan Building. I see a guy there and ask him if this bus will take me there. He then points straight ahead and says I can walk there (again in broken english). So I walk there and find the building and go up to the 45th floor where they have an observatory. I stay up there for about an hour. It's amazing beyond belief. The view at night of Tokyo is something else. It's so huge and vast and there is city for miles and miles.
After seeing that I decided to head back to the hotel and crash for the night. You can see in the one photo below that the hotel provided me with a kimono (I think that's what it is).
Anyway, this was just Day 1. Some of the photos are below. If you click on the photos below, you can go to a photo album to see the rest of the photos.
Random Japan Photos
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Something to Think About
So, I've been reading the book "Irrisistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne and I want to just say that if you haven't read it to read it because it will really get you thinking about what you believe and how you are living your life as a Christian. Anyway, tonight I was looking online and found this song by the Goo Goo Dolls. Take note, they aren't Christian, but read the lyrics. Read them and it's amazing to think how this Song is pretty much what Shane Claiborne talks about in his book....what amazing Lyrics. At least I think so:
Better Days
And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
And it's someplace simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And thats faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them
So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
It's neat to me because so often we label things "Christian" or "Non Christian" and here is a band who a lot of Christian would write off and yet they are writing some very introspective lyrics. Props to them.
Anyway, just thought about posting that.
Better Days
And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
And it's someplace simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And thats faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them
So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
It's neat to me because so often we label things "Christian" or "Non Christian" and here is a band who a lot of Christian would write off and yet they are writing some very introspective lyrics. Props to them.
Anyway, just thought about posting that.
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